Imagine being a boy today . The average boy is behind girls at every level of education. Boys are more likely to have their schoolwork impacted by ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders. They are 16 times more likely than girls to find school difficult due to being colour blind. Boys are more likely

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.

  • dil@kbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, the left really struggles with branding - “global warming” being the example that comes to mind. “Oh yeah, well then why is it cold right now?” … So now it’s “climate change”.

    It seems like there’s a lot of language that the left is using in the gender discussion that’s not great. “Toxic masculinity” and “patriarchy backfiring” are two examples that hit close to home. I like @Dwayne 's suggestion of “toxic gender roles” for the first.

    This is why we oppose […] any negative generalizations of men as a gender.

    Out of curiosity - do we oppose positive generalizations of men as a gender? Or is the issue just “generalizing men, positive or negative”?

    • a-man-from-earth@kbin.socialOP
      3·
      1 year ago

      It seems like there’s a lot of language that the left is using in the gender discussion that’s not great.

      Indeed, and mostly influenced by feminism. And for a movement that is so sensitive to language, feminism does apply negative language to men quite liberally. Everything negative is named after men. It feels intentional.

      Out of curiosity - do we oppose positive generalizations of men as a gender?

      I have no problem with positive generalizations such as “men are good”. I think that is healthy.

      I would object to overgeneralizing by saying for example “all men are good”, which is just not true.