#positive masculinity

[animentality]

[autism-freaks]

I would like to remind people that masculinity and gentleness are not opposites. They are not mutually exclusive. You can be very masculine and gentle at the same time. No one is more or less masculine for exhibiting kind, gentle behavior.

[sassylittlecanary]

Read some actual comics, Kyle.

Superman is an incredibly kind and tender character. (If he’s not being written that way, then he’s not being written well.) He inspires hope not just through his heroics, but also through his kindness toward other people. That’s his thing. Don’t you DARE call tenderness a “weakness.” Get your toxic masculinity the hell away from me and go read a badly written Batman comic if you want a “tough” male character.

[dudelet]

[slytherflowerao3]

the most powerful example of healthy masculinity: standing in front of your bros and saying, “no — the queer ship is the more compelling story. that’s the one i want to see.”

especially in this climate, where men are constantly seeking other men’s approval — for him to not even indulge the unspoken, casual homophobia in their reactions, and instead focus purely on story, character, and relationship dynamics?

that rules. genuinely refreshing to see.

[dukeofankh]

"The idea of Positive Masculinity is inherently sexist and wrongheaded. Name a positive trait that men have that women do not have," is the sort of question that sounds really challenging and wise until you think about it for five fucking seconds. And to demonstrate how, I will draw analogy to something very similar, (especially if you have dyslexia): Genre.

What is a Romance movie? How is it different from an Action movie? 

If I say "one hallmark of a Romance movie is a focus on emotional conflict rather than physical conflict", it doesn't mean that Romance movies cannot have physical conflict (because Twilight is one of many romance movies that do, in fact, have physical conflict) or that Action movies cannot have emotional conflict (Because Star Wars is one of many Action Movies that obviously have a great deal of emotional conflict). It is pointing at the relative epicentres of two overlapping groups to give you a general sense of what constellation of things are clustered near them in our cultural language.

Is that arbitrary? ...Yeah. Most things are. The idea that any of the symbols you're reading on your screen mean anything or matter at all is arbitrary and cultural too. Still seem relatively important or you'd be off doing something else. Still seem to have meaning or you'd be trying to figure out why the language settings on your weird little silicon tablet seem fucky with your hairless ape digits that are swiping on a rectangle instead of climbing trees and shoving fruit into your gob. Do you think the only options are things being written on the foundations of the universe or being useless nonsense? What are you, five?

Both genres and genders have fuzzy edges. Many things that make up both genders and genres can be used in the same or radically different ways by other genres and genders. Both genres and genders can be blended with each other. Genre and gender are completely arbitrary, but that is not the same thing as saying they are useless, inherently discriminatory, or something that should be abolished. I would finally point out that saying "genre is not real!" does not magically have literally any effect on the existing cultural material. No matter what you say, nobody is going to stop recognizing Titanic as a romance just because you get mad every time people don't agree to only refer to it as a "movie".

You might point out, "Hey, the difference is that people are trying to force all movies into being either Action or Romance movies". Yes. Those people are wrong. I am not one of those people. I would like as many genders as there are genres, and plenty of fun subgenres and genrebending as well. I also don't think that all digital cameras can only be used to shoot Action movies and all film cameras can only be used to shoot Romance movies. But getting mad at people who are talking about the new direction Action movies have been going recently and how it would be great if the leads were a little less rapey is not actually doing jack shit to dismantle the entire cultural lineage and language surrounding Genre. It's just trying to shut down people trying to make a Genre--that the vast majority of about four billion people really like--less harmful just because you don't personally like taxonomy.

[fagpunkqueer]

i love you bears i love you butches i love you trans men i love you transmascs i love you drag kings i love you masc queers of all persuasions the world is so much better and brighter for the existence of queer masculinity

[lovingauthority]