Why Cracking Down on Toxic Masculinity Is Not a ‘War on Men’
Moving away from rigid gender norms benefits everyone, but this doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet
The Australian government has recently come up with an interesting initiative.
Following the rise in popularity of misogynistic ‘influencers’ like Andrew Tate, they announced rolling out a program to crack down on toxic masculinity, dubbed the ‘Healthy Masculinities Project.’
The initiative, supported by over $3 million in funding, is set to launch next year as a three-year trial. And it will aim to educate school-age boys — as young as five years old — on healthy masculinity and building respectful relationships while debunking harmful ideas perpetuated online.
Sounds good so far, doesn’t it?
Well, not everyone thinks so. In reaction to the announcement, some people claimed the program is only going to ‘emasculate boys even further,’ turn them into ‘softies’, and that it’s essentially an equivalent of ‘chopping off their balls.’
But this isn’t exactly an uncommon response to attempts at making sure that young boys and men don’t spiral into the alienating world of male superiority and misogyny. If you as much as mention the term ‘toxic masculinity’ online…
