Breaking news, folks. The American Psychological Association confirmed this week what women and gay men have known forever: that “toxic masculinity” is a real thing and that it’s rooted in homophobia and misogyny.
In a first-of-its-kind report, the respected body has issued official “Guidelines for the Psychological Practice with Boys and Men” that cautions against the dangers of a “traditional masculinity ideology.”
“Masculinity ideology is a set of descriptive, prescriptive, and proscriptive of cognitions about boys and men,” the APA warns. “Although there are differences in masculinity ideologies, there is a particular constellation of standards that have held sway over large segments of the population.”
The report notes that the “components of traditional masculinity [include] emotional stoicism, homophobia, not showing vulnerability, self-reliance, and competitiveness.”
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The negative impact of this sort of ideology can be severe, the APA says.
“Conforming to traditional masculinity ideology has been shown to limit males’ psychological development, constrain their behavior, result in gender role strain and gender role conflict, and negatively influence mental health and physical health.”
The report goes on to say that raising boys with “constricted notions of masculinity emphasizing aggression, homophobia, and misogyny may influence boys to direct a great deal of their energy into disruptive behaviors.”
Those behaviors can include “bullying, homosexual taunting, and sexual harassment rather than healthy academic and extracurricular activities.”
To be honest, it’s kind of amazing it took the APA this long to come to such a conclusion, but we’re glad to finally have the experts on board!
Related: The gay scene has a toxic masculinity problem. Here’s how we can end it together.
iamru2
So is toxic femininity! And while we’re at it toxic anything.
Rock-N-RollHS
right on!
djmcgamester
Toxic feminism is a thing. Not saying all feminists are toxic but it’s a fact that there are some serious man-haters out there. Double points if you’re white. Triple if you dare to be straight.
I have a lot of straight guy friends. Some of them could outwardly be perceived as “toxic males”. Then you actually talk to them and find out it’s not the case. In some instances it’s nothing more than a front for a variety of reasons, including being angry over things that have happened in their lives. I know women who equally fit that description. The conclusion I draw based on anecdotes is that some people are a**holes and some people are not. Even there, it’s not a black and white situation. It’s just easy to paint people into a corner and define them in a convenient manner.
And, finally, I can be quite the a**hole myself at time. Is it a guy thing? I don’t know. I’m also compassionate. You’d actually have to know me to know what’s the “real” me.
lemon-lime
Trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), too.
mr guy
^And extremist TRAs too
surreal33
AMEN!!! I beyond tired of fem bots pushing a narrative that gay men should shun all things masculine. Life is not a perpetual episode of Rupaul’s drag race.
redzebra1
Spam! Remove this!
mr guy
Sounds half-baked and ideologically-driven (like many of their recent decisions). Many of the stated qualities are admirable (as well as universal ) and have been incalculably positive forces in our species when not taken to extremes. Science (especially psychiatry and psychology) ought to be extra cautious of kowtowing to fashionable ideology and socio-political currents. These are the same professions that once endorsed cutting away the healthy bowels of young men who engaged in self-abüse (masturbation)— considered a cast iron indicator of future mental-illness:whose origin was fashionably thought to arise in the toxic conditions in the bowel—the cutting away of which resulting in a high mortality rate. Also the man who invented the labotomy received the Nobel Prize
MuslimSlutBox
I just don’t know what any of this means.
MarathonBoy
“confirmed this week what women and gay men have known forever”
lol. What kind of a homophobic loser thinks of gay men as de facto women? The effeminate kind that works for Queerty, apparently.
Masculinity is not toxic. It is essential for healthy male life. Effeminacy is toxic. May it be wiped from the Earth.
DHT
I don’t think toxic masculinity could exist without toxic femininity. One certainly feeds off the other. Women using their femininity to get men to act as tools is as old as Samson and Delilah.
gymmuscleboy
The title is misleading – the APA report DOES NOT MENTION “toxic masculinity”, a term invented by feminism, which is a political movement. We must be careful to distinguish that from the APA, which is a scientific organisation.
gymmuscleboy
Queerty, if you care at all about journalistic integrity, I would seriously consider removing this article. Your assertion that the APA has validated “toxic masculinity” is 100% false. The APA article does NOT validate “toxic masculinity” or even reference it once. It is a political, feminist term and the APA article does NOT say it is a “real thing”. Shame on you.