Including Men in Conversations Around Feminism
More often than not, when talking about the patriarchy we focus on its harmful effects on women. Since it's a system that’s based on providing men with power and keeping women from having any, it makes sense to see women as the primary victims of the patriarchy. What’s interesting, though, is that the system that men benefit from is also harming them at the same time. For men to maintain supremacy in our society they have had to set behavioral standards for themselves leading to the creation of toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity dictates that for men to maintain their masculinity and their status as men, they need to behave within certain guidelines. These standards are considered toxic because they are unhealthy and often result in men causing harm to themselves or others. Masculinity does not have to be toxic though. It can be redefined and attributed with positive behaviors instead of negative ones. So, masculinity is not inherently toxic, but much of w...