The Sacred Masculine
What is the antidote to toxic masculinity?
When I saw the prompt from Jean Carfantan to write about the sacred masculine, I was perplexed. What is sacred about masculinity? I’m accustomed to thinking of masculinity as toxic — the source of violence, wars, abuse, disrespect. This despite the fact that most media describe masculinity as heroic. The ubiquitous plot line: one strong man rescues the weak, protects the vulnerable, saves the day. We’ve been fed this same story thousands of times over the life of our media creation and consumption. But what I’ve seen play out in real life is the opposite: one “strong” man (or woman) generally makes life hell for the people around them.
Looking up the definition of “masculine” provides no answers. Merriam-Webster defines it as: having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man. But what are those qualities? The dictionary doesn’t say.
A search for toxic masculinity gives more information. That’s a cultural concept of manliness that glorifies stoicism, strength, virility, and dominance, and that is socially maladaptive or harmful to mental health, according to dictionary.com.
Yet only one trait from that list stands out as obviously negative: dominance. There’s nothing wrong with being strong or virile, after all. Those traits are admired in both…
