smitten on Nostr: Men have been on a mission lately to prove that they aren't so bad. 'Not all men', ...
Men have been on a mission lately to prove that they aren't so bad. 'Not all men', and 'Why would you pick the bear?' They took it really personally that there's been such a cultural backlash to toxic masculinity, many felt like every kind of masculinity was being called toxic, so they had no way to feel gender euphoria. (This did not help them understand queer and trans people, don't get your hopes up.)
Now in 2025 they finally got what they wanted, a political climate mostly dominated by men, a tech industry mostly dominated by men. Shouldn't we be seeing the unveiling of that nontoxic masculinity that they were complaining we didn't understand? Shouldn't this be their chance to show why 'men are supposed to lead' and 'men are the most qualified for the job'? It's like they didn't even take the assignment seriously, it's like they didn't even think about what kind of rebrand to do. It's the same old masculinity, there's nothing different about it.
They are now openly showing that their understanding of masculinity was mostly about dominance, it was mostly about hierarchy. It was about avoiding punishment by caving to whoever was making threats. It's a kind of gender that nobody particularly wants, I don't think they even want it. For some reason this is the only kind of masculinity they can imagine, and that's sad.
When I was young and receiving a lot of messages about what it meant to 'be a man', a lot of times it was about standing up for what you believe in. It was about protecting people. It was about being courageous, not caring what other people said about you. I don't mean to make it sound like this stuff was all good, I mean 'protecting people' is often paternalistic in a gross way. But, it wasn't this obvious dominance game where all the men try to show how ready they are to fit into the hierarchy. I don't hate masculinity in the abstract, I don't hate men. But whatever this display they're giving us is, it's hard to stomach.
Now in 2025 they finally got what they wanted, a political climate mostly dominated by men, a tech industry mostly dominated by men. Shouldn't we be seeing the unveiling of that nontoxic masculinity that they were complaining we didn't understand? Shouldn't this be their chance to show why 'men are supposed to lead' and 'men are the most qualified for the job'? It's like they didn't even take the assignment seriously, it's like they didn't even think about what kind of rebrand to do. It's the same old masculinity, there's nothing different about it.
They are now openly showing that their understanding of masculinity was mostly about dominance, it was mostly about hierarchy. It was about avoiding punishment by caving to whoever was making threats. It's a kind of gender that nobody particularly wants, I don't think they even want it. For some reason this is the only kind of masculinity they can imagine, and that's sad.
When I was young and receiving a lot of messages about what it meant to 'be a man', a lot of times it was about standing up for what you believe in. It was about protecting people. It was about being courageous, not caring what other people said about you. I don't mean to make it sound like this stuff was all good, I mean 'protecting people' is often paternalistic in a gross way. But, it wasn't this obvious dominance game where all the men try to show how ready they are to fit into the hierarchy. I don't hate masculinity in the abstract, I don't hate men. But whatever this display they're giving us is, it's hard to stomach.