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"Toxic masculinity" has been a bit of a buzzword in some social circles… but what exactly is toxic about toxic masculinity? Let's look closer.
What Other People Think Is “Toxic” About Masculinity
When asked what's "toxic" about masculinity, people offered words like: everything, bravado, violence, aggression, rape culture, exclusion, super straight, insecurity, homophobic, denial, angry, fragile, muscles, hatred of women, enforced, volatile, overbearing fragility, emotionless, control, mean, imposing stereotypes, repression, fear, lack of connection, disrespectful, hierarchy, ego, entitlement, shaming femininity, rage, lack of feeling, pressure, stoicism, power, rigidity, hide true self, dismiss feminine people, inconsiderate…
The Femmephobia Connection
What's "toxic" about toxic masculinity is often its treatment of femininity! Notice how many of these words or phrases communicate beliefs about the (lesser) value of femininity? They actually point to doing the "opposite" of what is feminine.
There is a theme here of distancing oneself from femininity — so far, in fact, that they are on another planet!
If what's "toxic" about masculinity is really about how it treats femininity, then we need to turn our attention to femininity itself. What comes to mind when you think about femininity? Let's explore that next.
© We Are Family, 2026
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