Here are some thoughts. At this point of history, what it even means to be a man is shifting and changing, causing a real crisis of purpose in many young men. This fuels today's "toxic masculinity".
"Manhood", in many cultures, had a stable meaning for centuries or even millenia. You had a role as breadwinner, protector, but also custodian/patriarch. But now these roles have melted away as our societies evolved.
Modernity ushered in a radical change; women no longer need men for financial support or protection. Without that, their "perks" of being custodians and patriarchs don't make sense. For women this is liberating. For many men, it's causing a crisis of identity and purpose.
This "crisis" is compounded atop a background of further loss of identity, as other long-established systems of belonging melt away. For example, we've gone from extended family to post-nuclear family; from nation state to post-nation state.
This crisis is one of the factors driving the rise of populism. It's well established that men are more likely to vote for far right candidates. And the "crisis" I speak of isn't going away any time soon, in fact it's compounding.
In other words, toxic masculinity is fed by insecurity about identity, about belonging, about purpose. About one's place in life and in society, and what it even means to be a man. It's a manhood deficit that's causing so many men to over-compensate.
Imagine, if you will, a sci-fi (or dystopia?) scenario where women no longer have babies or raise children, because we figured out better ways to do that. Now imagine what kind of crisis that would cause when it comes to the meaning of being a woman.
Note, I picked the child-bearing and motherhood function of women there not as a way to reduce women's role to that, but because this is a role women didn't lose, even as they won more (well deserved) equality in rights and roles.
For the good of our societies, we need to offer a soft landing to yesterday's privileged class. That would be good for everyone, and would help prevent confusion about what it means to be a man to drive more young men towards far right radicalization.
I'd also add that parts of the world in which women are increasingly being empowered need to have a heads up. A crisis of toxic masculinity will soon follow on its heels. Perhaps instead of dissing young men, we need to help them grapple with that crisis of identity.
