Toxic masculinity hurts everybody, including men themselves. Starting very young, it causes many people to feel uncomfortable with their condition, they receive critiques about their behaviours, are forced to hide their feelings and to have a certain appeareance. Most of the time the jugement is based on a sexist point of view, that depreciates any aspect of femininity.
Men tend to follow this mindset in order be socially valued, among men. That leads to an overwhelming amount of misogynistic behaviors behind considered as normal.
They keep trying to fit in, creating this social shell, and keeping who they are inside. That is what this short loop is about.
Michael Kaufman is a Canadian activist focused on engaging men and boys to promote gender equality, end violence against women, and end self-destructive ideals of manhood.
He co-founded the White Ribbon Campaign in 1991, the largest network of men working to ending violence against women worldwide. Michael Kaufman also co-founded the Men for Women’s Choice campaign with Gordon Cleveland.
The key behaviour that will help us get out of this social state, is self-questionning. We need to understand what leads us to be who we are, and to really think about who we want to be. We need to realise what is the impact of our actions, and change what we need to change in ourselves.
Fortunately, this behaviour pushes those around us to do the same. Inspiring people to change is a powerful effect of self-questionning.
