oh and by the way.
“men are evil” and “masculinity is bad” is just the new way of saying that “boys will be boys”.
not only is masculinity not evil, it also gives a get out of jail free card for men who behave badly. it gives them an opportunity to say “oh I’m just a guy, can’t help it”.
nope. men aren’t evil. and the ones that are bad shouldn’t be able to get out of it because they “can’t help it”.
what this means is that:
if we act like men are automatically evil, the bad men are not going to get blame for evil acts
if we act like men are automatically evil, we make it easier for mediocre men to act like they’re perfect
if we act like men are automatically evil, we lower the expectations of people who are attracted to men, putting those people at risk
if we act like men are automatically evil, we put the good men at risk of being ridiculed, or punished for being good (because being good will be perceived as a “weird” thing for men to be)
masculinity is neutral. manhood is neutral. acting like saying “all men are trash” is actively dismantling the patriarchy is not it.
