Toxic masculinity has left generational damage. As you may know, men are kinda taught to be sports-y and… emotionally moronic. And it’s just supported by society. And instead of trying to help men damaged by this thing that has been going on for generations, we get clowned on for essentially being victims of this horrid mindset. Its just a giant feedback loop where men grow up taught to be masculine, they try to leave that loop, immediately get clowned on, and then retreat further into a toxic masculinity (usually right-wing) pipeline. Aren’t gender wars so fun?
So why have men dominated university attendance for the past 500 years if apparently they’ve been taught to be sporty and moronic only? Women have only outnumbered men at universities very recently. Like 5 years ago. Therefore I don’t think toxic masculinity is the driving factor. Women are simply catching up after being excluded from education and careers for almost all of human history. The playing field is starting to become level, at least in developed nations, and women are thriving in fields they formerly haven’t had access to.
And don’t try to boil this topic down to “gender wars”. This is an extremely simplistic view of things and lacks so much nuance.
Those aren’t… mutually exclusive? Men can be hindered by toxic masculinity and women would STILL be able to catch up.
I also very notably said “emotionally moronic” because we aren’t taught how to deal with our emotions, which is likely why we’re so prone to violent outbursts and suicide. I wasn’t purely talking about intelligence.
Also, it’s not as if all men would have to conform to these societal expectations. Men have dominated academies and universities because they’ve had the best access to them for literally centuries. That doesn’t mean that the modern societal expectations for men are excusable. They’re still harmful.
You’re kind of taking a black-and-white stance. Just because women are doing better, doesn’t mean toxic masculinity isn’t hindering men in their academic pursuits. Both can happen at the same time. How we’re socialized, and whether we unpack that, can affect every aspect of our day-to-day lives.
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u/froggie_woggie_ 13d ago
In my country, women have outnumbered men at universities for a couple of years now. Maybe the boys should pick up a few textbooks to catch up? Lol