Thread by @JYSexton

A dad reached out after reading THE MAN THEY WANTED ME TO BE to talk about his son, who’s joined an extremist group. It’s really tragic, but even more so considering our outdated concepts of masculinity are helping these people radicalize like ISIS.

amazon.com/Man-They-Wante…

The unrealistic expectations of masculinity, that men be invincible and forever strong leads them to joining groups that play on insecurities and what they think are personal failings. They’re weaponizing them. It’s led to deaths. There’ll be more if we don’t address the problem.

And we’re never going to fix this issue until we see it exists. Extremism is growing as a generation of men double down on beliefs that harm them. They’re willing to kill to salve their own egos, and we have to start connecting the dots.

By the same token, these mass shootings aren’t isolated incidents. They’re aggrieved white men who are radicalized online by political and personal entities seeking to capitalize and profit off their insecurities. We have to call this what it is: a crisis.

The dad who reached out felt like his son could hurt people and like he’d lost him totally. But figuring out that masculinity was the problem, that insecurity fueled the issue, helped. I just wish more people would see the problem for what it actually is.

For more on this check out @cpicciolini who is doing excellent work exposing extremist methods. He told me for the book, as a former member, these groups all target insecure men and use masculinity as a manipulation. We have to address this before more people needlessly die.