The expectations of toxic masculinity–and normative masculine gender socialization–takes a toll on men and boys in a variety of ways. This is by no means an argument for minimizing or re-centering the discourse on rape culture away from women, girls, queer folks, people who are gender-non-conforming, and other marginalized communities and individuals. But in order to…
Toxic masculinity–the way of being a man that requires aggression, sexual domination, earning big money, being athletic, and most definitely, being heterosexual–not only feeds rape culture, but is co-dependent upon it. In fact, rape culture and toxic masculinity feed each other while destroying everything they touch. The video below from MTV News provides a quick and…
Rethinking the Relationship Between The Words We Use, The Actions We Take, and the Thoughts We Think Part 3. The Thoughts We Think ~~~ Continued from Part 1. The Words We Use and Part 2. The Actions We Take ~~~ Civil Rights vs. Human Rights Legal rights ground legal claims to protect already established legal entitlements. Human…
Rethinking the Relationship Between The Words We Use, The Actions We Take, and the Thoughts We Think Part 2. The Actions We Take Continued from: Part 1. The Words We Use ~~~ Charity vs. Mutual Aid The dictionary tells us that poor is the opposite of rich, and we often think of poverty to mean simply that –…
Rethinking the Relationship Between The Words We Use, The Actions We Take, and the Thoughts We Think Part 1. The Words We Use ~~~ I spend a lot of my waking life in my head. I like to think. And I give a lot of thought to the words that I speak, and the ways I…
Oppression takes many forms and can come from places both expected and not. These are times that call on us all to actively put forth our best selves, holding both ourselves and each other accountable. Solidarity, after all, is a verb. It is our collective responsibility to speak out against hate, against oppression, against the…
“The problem with allyship is that good intentions are not enough. Allyship offers a safe haven from harsh realities and the dirty work of creating change. It offers a comfortable distance that can be terribly unproductive.” (Gay, 2016) The World We Live In Philando Castile was murdered in the town I currently call home, just…
As one of the preeminent scholars on Masculinity, Michael Kaufman’s research has highlighted contradictions within traditional feminist narratives of patriarchal power and control. That is not to say that he is trying to undermine feminist discourse, or does not support it; rather Kaufman works to complicate the discourse by showing how competition and violence within…