LogFAQs > #888680986

dainkinkaide posted...

Then maybe native English speakers should fucking learn what words mean. "Masculinity" doesn't mean "the state of being male"; it means "manliness", i.e. a cultural ideal of what a man "should" be or strive towards. This is pretty basic semantics.

Yeah that is not accurate. Masculinity covers the societal as well as biologically-driven behavioral aspects attributed to being male. An attack on masculinity as a whole is necessarily an attack on maleness as a whole as some of these behaviors are biologically driven and not all of them are harmful. I know that is not what people mean when they say toxic masculinity, but it absolutely can correctly be interpreted that way if the term is presented with no associated definition.

So again I am back to the concept is sound the name is terrible. I am trying to think of ways that it could be improved. For starters it does not have to be so terse. Referring to it with something as simple as "the toxic aspects of masculinity" would be a huge improvement even if it is not perfect. Anything really to emphasize it is only targeting specific harmful behaviors and not the concept as a whole would go a long way to prevent the initial visceral reaction most people have.