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‘Toxic masculinity’ is toxic terminology — The Centre for Male Psychology (www.centreformalepsychology.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As I psychologist, I’m concerned about mental health, especially the mental health of men and boys because it’s been overlooked for so long. Because there was so little interest in how much the negative discourse around masculinity impacts boys, my colleagues and I ran a survey. We found that around 85% of respondents thought the term ‘toxic masculinity’ is insulting, and probably harmful to boys.

My latest research has just been published. It assessed the views of over 4000 men in the UK and Germany, and found that thinking masculinity is bad for your behaviour is linked to having worse mental wellbeing. [... And] positive views of masculinity are linked to better mental wellbeing.

This is why we oppose the usage of the term toxic masculinity and any negative generalizations of men as a gender.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (6 children)

The reason toxic masculinity is favoured as a term is to avoid acknowledging misandry.

Feminists commonly used to that discrimination against men is actually due to misogyny. For example, men are afraid to cry because it's seen as feminine. So since they believe men's issues root from misogyny, toxic masculinity is the perfect term for them.

This is problematic since some issues such as male suicide are thought to be due to toxic masculinity. Whereas real world data shows that men aren't afraid to seek help, therapy is both difficult to access (in the UK) and isn't really geared towards dealing with men.

"The startling statistic from the research showed that of those men who had taken their own lives and had actually sought help and were assessed for suicidal risk in 2017, 80% had been assessed by clinicians as having low or no risk of suicide; this is troubling and an issue that must be addressed. These men are talking but who was listening? This lack of understanding of male suicidality (stressors, transversal issues and life transitions) is key, especially when presented in indirect ways."

https://equi-law.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/APPG-MB-Male-Suicide-Report-9-22.pdf

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

"Toxic masculinity" downplays men's issues.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

Yes, essentially it makes it look like they're doing something when really they aren't.

Also, if men don't like the term, they should respect that instead of forcing it on them. Often times when a man is asking for support, there is a person lecturing him about toxic masculinity. They care more about people using the term and spreading their propaganda than to actually offer real help.

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