GRSJ224/toxicmasculinity

Toxic Masculinity

Toxic masculinity is a concept that takes the traditional male gender norms which restrain men to be emotionally vulnerable due to the social influence that is placed on men from a young age to be actively dominant. This foreseeably constrains their emotional spectrum to expressions of aggression, violence, and lack of empathy. The notion of toxic masculinity is one of the few ways the patriarchy can be destructive towards men. While part of what patriarchy does to gender is "inextricably links to it's issues of power" (Carr & VanDeusen, 2004), the idea of toxic masculinity not only includes the domination of women, but also that of other men and the non-binary.

Origin

From the 1830's to the 1870's, researchers go back to this time period to originate the inauguration of western hyper-masculinity (Jobbins, 2017), with the ability to trace back many similarities between the social expectations on how many should look, act, and behave on a daily basis. These actions were rigorously taught to men, most often by parents and peers beginning at a young age, which then leads to the repression of their emotional needs. During childhood personality and character development, studies find that both boy and girl toddlers are equally emotional, expressive, and dependent, equally capable of physical love and affection. During toddlerhood to preschool, both genders are more likely to carry innate "feminine" qualities, such as emotionally vulnerability and compassion.

Health Effects

Criminal acts, drug addiction, sexual and physical violence, are all examples of destructive behaviours that become societally sanctioned as the "norm", which in turn leads to more crucial mental health issues. Men’s lack of social support and ability to relay their emotions on a profound level, in comparison to that of woman, has been a huge factor on why suicide rates in men are significantly higher in comparison to woman; with males 3 times more likely to commit suicide in their lifetime (Statistics Canada, 2018). Because of this engrained system that men should physical symptoms before than emotional ones, the status of their mental health can likely go unnoticed, untreated, or undiagnosed. Toxic masculinity also encourage men’s general lack of interest in health issues; many men simply don’t believe they are susceptible to depression because they were taught the only way to be a man is to display qualities of anti-weakness (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2018).

Violence Against Women

Toxic masculinity does not just pose a threat to the identity formation of men, but to the safety of others'. Because violence and acts of aggression are "socially endorsed for males in many cultures and is seen to be tied to their masculine identity", (Kimmel, 2004) it's easy to make the correlation between toxic masculinity and the consciously exercised violence towards others in the past and they were exposed to violence more than females from early childhood. A study by Bozkurt et al. examines the contrast in violence between male and female participants and concluded that males often enjoy interacting in violent games and movies more than females; thus producing a higher chance of conveying that aggression in real-life circumstances.

The notion of toxic masculinity affects all members of society, not just one half of the binary. As more research gets done on why men feel enabled to assault women, it becomes clear that toxic ideas of manliness are negatively affecting men and boys as well. In order to defy the patriarchy, it is crucial to start with deconstructing gender norms and encourage men and boys of all ages to be part of the solution for ending gender-based violence, arising mental health issues, and creating safe-spaces for expressive and emotional behaviours.

Resources

1. Canadian Mental Health Association. (2018). Men and Mental Illness. Accessed March 2018.
2. Carr, J. & VanDeusen, K. (2004). “Risk Factors for Male Sexual Aggression on College Campuses.” Journal of Family Violence. 19(5):279-289.
3. Fleming, P. (2014). “Real Men Don't”: Constructions of Masculinity and Inadvertent Harm in Public Health Interventions. Am J Public Health. 104(6): 1029–1035.
4. Holloway, K. (2015). Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men: The Roots of Men and Trauma. Alternet.
5. Jobbins, J. (2017). "The Victorian Origins of Toxic Masculinity". The Historian.
6. Omar, A. (2011). Masculinity and the acceptance of violence: a study of social construction. University of Iowa.
7. Real, T. (1998). I don't want to talk about it: Overcoming the secret of male depression. Scribner.
8. Statistics Canada. (2018). Suicide Rates: An Overview. Accessed March 2018.