Not the guy you're responding to, but I think you might have a tad idealized analysis of what's going on. Confidence and (a form of) strength have always been both feminine and masculine traits, the difference is what a person is confident of.
The idea that women "left out" dominance beacause they "didn't want it" is ridiculous af and idealizing women. If you look at practically any idealized version of modern women in pop culture from super heroes to fantasy films to pop icons, it's clear that women do want to dominate and fantasize about it. It's just that they can't unless men are willing to go along with it, so it's more beneficial on the whole to label dominance and aggression as "toxic masculinity".
I think a likelier explanation is that as there's less and less need for gendered division of labour our use for masculinity changes, and so it's role and acceptable manifestations are being renegotiated. I don't believe masculinity or femininity as such are somehow breaking down. As long as a significant number of women want men, to be a man has to mean something and vice versa.
I think to call the current atmosphere "man-hating" is a bit hyperbolic, but there is a certain air of hyppocracy around discussions of masculinity. Quite often what is demanded of men is not substancially different from a romanticized versions of traditional masculinity. It's just that women are able to make these demands on a more equal footing. Take any article about how to be a good male ally to Feminism (or just the bulk of discussions in social media), and what's invariably described is a cross between the galant knight and some sort of therapy dog. You must be able to listen and believe women's experiences and not talk back. You must be able to understand that you can't truly understand and then go educate other men on the things you've learned. And you must be able to do this with a pure heart; not expecting any compensation but letting the righteousness of your cause be it's own reward.
It's only natural than a good number of men react negatively to these new demands, tho often in pretty cringy ways. Personally I just say "bitch, get a poodle" and get on with my day.
Leo King
Spooks. Unless it's something like Autism / Alzheimers / Epilepsy where something is physically off / wrong with your brain selerating itnfrom the norm
Classic chicken and egg problem. Some instances are caused by a chemical imbalance while others result in one. It seems likely both cases are treated in the same manner
Oliver Adams
I'll put it this way: confidence isn't a personality trait. A person has confidence in something, they aren't simply "confident". Men being told in various situations to "be confident" carries almost the exact same implications of being told to "be a man" in yesteryear, it's a call to do the whole strong, dominant sex shtick. It's a euphemism. It makes no sense to tell someone to simply "have confidence" unless you're suggesting that they should be confident in their situation regardless of the actual circumstances, which is terrible advice and is basically what Chris-chan does.
Evan James
Let me OG Stirnerpost - show the newrades how it is done>
The one thing that Capitalism abhors is unproductivity - Man has no place in the system is he's a cog that does not fit the larger clockwork. Thus capitalism turns personal expression into sickness and gladly sells you the cure! Not happy slaving away in an office cubicle? Have some pills! Stressed out? Buy this yoga-mat! Depressed that the future of human kind seems to bend towards endless climate crisis and you realize you're ultimately a powerless little ant, as helpless as the antelope is when caught in the deadly embrace of the Lion? 8 hours of Jordan Peterson seminars will help you! Buy his signartured book!
Was not also homosexuality and deviant gender-expresions made pathological and their cure sold to us? Capitalism defines what mental even is - any thought patter that might threaten it, healthy for the individual or not.
The devious part is that Capitalism can actually turn a profit from repression.
Also, I’d like to point out that there is no such thing as “toxic femininity”. By which I mean that there is no critique of female behavior that I’m aware of, and if you did attempt to construct a critique of the toxic elements of femininity, you’d be immediately regarded as suspect if not shunned as some sort of heretic. Because, once again, I think a lot of the “movement” is motivated not by the academic examination of gender roles, but by man-hate masquerading as theory.
Blake Flores
the incentives to use psychiatry for rent-seeking and profit extraction from people who can't really refuse the intervention is quite insidious, left unchecked, but that's a peculiar disease of America's system that isn't nearly as horrible elsewhere in the world. i think the sudden explosion in serious mental disorders (particularly autism) though stems ultimately from the education system. the school system has every reason to invalidate so many excess students that pass through it and mark them as mental defectives. you see then a lot of kids, especially in the '90s, marked with the 'tism when before schools were reluctant to go that far to run unwanted children out (and the schools have the influence to twist diagnoses however they want, if someone goes to a private practitioner or is left to the mercy of CMH). i don't know how it works now, because my interaction with the system was almost all involuntary until adulthood. turns out society really, really doesn't like paying those same people disability bux when they're out of the system, so you have some perverse incentives going on, and it has little to do with capitalism. maybe in a really indirect way the labor pool and thus demands of schools react to market forces, but aside from working people to the breaking point i don't see why capitalism is especially motivated to put people on pills and through therapy. the intense disgust towards anyone who falls into the system is out of proportion to their place in society, even under capitalism and its necessary pressure on the population. there's something else going on.
