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I know many, many good men. But the Q behind "toxic masculinity" isn't whether good men outnumber bad. It's how we respond to pathological men. Do we excuse/overlook their behavior or hold them accountable? Our communal record suggests former, especially if they are powerful.
In last few years, US has been rocked by scandal after scandal, cover-up after cover-up--from sports to Hollywood to politics to the church--suggesting a pervasive cultural blindness toward pathological men.
IOW: When you are powerful, you can do what you want.
IOW: When you are powerful, you can do what you want.
Or in these notorious words: "When you're a star, they let you do it."
Only, "they" here more accurately means all of us together.
Only, "they" here more accurately means all of us together.
So the point isn't whether men are toxic--the vast majority aren't! Most are good & kind. The point is that they exist in a society that tells them (both implicitly & explicitly) that they aren't responsible to confront & stop pathological men.
The persistence of predatory masculinity isn't rooted in men's individual failures but our communal failure that enables abuse thru silence. We call men to oppose it, not b/c most men aren't good, but precisely because they are!
