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#toxicmasculinity

7 posts7 participants0 posts today

One of my current #reads "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell, who is the #american Tolkien. I'm excited to crack this open because it discusses how myth inspires and invites people to grow and create. And with so much discussion of #manliness to obsessional levels, I think #toxicMasculinity has manifested because of the lack of myth. Reading is seen as "unmanly", the #bible is seen as fact. Men need mythic heroes to emulate. Beowulf, Erik The Red, Thoreau's Walden. #books

Young #US men are joining #Russian churches promising 'absurd levels of manliness' [and #ToxicMasculinity!]

by Lucy Ash, May 26, 2025

" 'A lot of people ask me: 'Father Moses, how can I increase my manliness to absurd levels?''

"In a YouTube video, a priest is championing a form of virile, unapologetic masculinity.

"Skinny jeans, crossing your legs, using an iron, shaping your eyebrows, and even eating soup are among the things he derides as too feminine.

"There are other videos of Father Moses McPherson - a powerfully built father of five - weightlifting to the sound of heavy metal.

"He was raised a Protestant and once worked as a roofer, but now serves as a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (#ROCOR) in Georgetown, Texas, an offshoot of the mother church in Moscow.

"ROCOR, a global network with headquarters in New York, has recently been expanding across parts of the US - mainly as a result of people converting from other faiths.

"In the last six months, Father Moses has prepared 75 new followers for baptism in his church of the Mother of God, just north of Austin.

" 'When my wife and I converted 20 years ago we used to call #Orthodoxy the best-kept secret, because people just didn't know what it was,' he says.
'But in the past year-and-a-half our congregation has tripled in size.'

"Convert Theodore - who until recently rejected all religion - lifts weights three times a week with Father Moses
During the Sunday liturgy at Father Moses's church, I am struck by the number of men in their twenties and thirties praying and crossing themselves at the back of the nave, and how this religion - with traditions dating back to the 4th century AD - seems to attract young men uneasy with life in modern America.

"Software engineer Theodore tells me he had a dream job and a wife he adored, but he felt empty inside, as if there was a hole in his heart. He believes society has been "very harsh" on men and is constantly telling them they are in the wrong. He complains that men are criticised for wanting to be the breadwinner and support a stay-at-home wife.

" 'We are told that's a very toxic relationship nowadays,' Theodore says. 'That's not how it should be.'" [smh...]

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30q5l

Archived version:
archive.ph/p2R0W

Father Moses McPherson, a Russian Orthodox priest
BBC NewsOrthodox Christianity: Young US men joining 'masculine' Russian churchesA religion with traditions dating back centuries is attracting young American men.

"Assailant in Carmel tried to punch 13-year-old in face before she threw him to the ground and broke his ankle."

I'm sorry to say a lot of cis men will never respect women, cis or trans.

We HAVE to use force to stop their violence.

If you can't be respected be feared.

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

The Guardian · California teenage girl fends off attacker by using jiu-jitsuBy Ramon Antonio Vargas

New York Times: The Tech Guys Are Fighting. Literally.. This link goes to a gift article. “The tech industry’s newfound devotion to martial arts is one facet of a broader cultural shift that has upended U.S. politics. Many of these tech founders turned fighters are chasing a testosterone-heavy ideal of masculinity that is ascendant on social media and embraced by President Trump.” Also […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/05/15/new-york-times-the-tech-guys-are-fighting-literally/

Clearly a case where #ToxicMasculinity has overtaken rational thought - I suspect whoever did this simply doesn't care they are likely to get 20+ years porridge - #stabbing someone in a #bank in broad daylight is almost certain to result in #arrest - there's #CCTV all over these places and has been for 50+ years! #UK #crime #Midlands #Derby

itv.com/news/central/2025-05-0

4 teenagers arrested after a #stabbing in #Cambridgeshire - this does look like a targeted attack, also the lads arrested came from areas some distance away where it would be difficult to get to without access to a car - its a warning how bad #ToxicMasculinity has become if they put all that effort into travelling just to commit this #crime (and these things often happen over trivial reasons)

itv.com/news/anglia/2025-05-04

Replied in thread

@davidmoscrop.com

Honestly, I think it’s as less about this (perhaps this stuff is the deeper foundation, there is a synergy happening) than it is about Poilivre's 'tough on crime' & anti-'woke' messaging simply having been incredibly successful at convincing insecure working class men they're p_ssies or f_gs if they vote other than Tory these days.

Those who live in the 'heartland' areas will get it—they see it every day.

[🚫no men's comments🚫]

The "She Matters" mural in Hosier Lane, Melbourne - a mural that names the women who have been killed in attacks of gendered violence, has been vandalised.

The perpetrators painted "war on men" across the names and pictures of the women murdered.

We can't even have our grief.

I'm so tired of men.

My poll has concluded, and it has confirmed my suspicions - a lot of men (myself included) have not really been socialized to talk openly about their emotions.

This might be a generational thing - I grew up in 1980s Germany, and I think younger generations are getting better at this. It might also be a matter of education - while I have PhD, I am from a working class family.

But it definitely was, and is, a problem. The default assumption always was that men had to stand on their own, that men had to cope with anything life threw at them, that any man who could _not_ cope with things was weak and deserving of contempt - and the only "negative emotion" that was acceptable to show was anger and rage.

Which is messed up - if we are not free to talk about our emotions, then how are we supposed to work through them other than trial and error? I do know that it took me many years to work though my own issues.

I think this is a great contributor to #ToxicMasculinity . Don't get me wrong, none of this excuses the men who embrace it for their actions. They have full agency, and own their toxic behavior. But when you are taught that anger is the only negative emotion that you can publicly express, then embracing it can become very tempting.

#masculinity #GenderRole
mementomori.social/@juergen_hu

Memento moriJürgen Hubert (@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social)This article on #masculinity and talking about emotions got me thinking, and I am curious how men around here are socialized to talk about emotions. #feminism #GenderRole https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/christian-men-donald-trump-masculinity-crisis.html [ ] I am a man, and I was socialized to talk about my emotions with other men [ ] I am a man, and I was socialized to talk about my emotions with women [ ] I am a man, and I was NOT socialized to talk about my emotions with other men [ ] I am a man, and I was NOT socialized to talk about my emotions with women [ ] I am not a man, but I want to see the poll results