Reveal Your Uncool Conservative Beliefs Here

what's your take on why I'm wrong

not everyone is plugged into woke twitter

Praise be.

xp I don't mean that to sound passive aggressive, I mean it's very likely that I am wrong! would just like to know where you're coming from

'Masculinity' is not the whole of my identity, it's a social construct. And a harmful one at that.

That's not to say that 'masculinity' is a randomly created term. Ironically, most of my feminist work, consisting of pretty militant anti-MRA articles, would probably be said to be typically male and testostorone prone - and has been called out as that by women. But I also know part of why my writing has been somewhat impactful has a lot to do with me being male, and being allowed to write angry things without being described as 'hysterical' for instance. And that's why I'm okay with 'masculinity' being described as toxic, even though I'm quite 'masculine' myself.

can't it be both a social construct and also the whole of your identity simultaneously? is there any part of your existence that isn't shaped by this social construct?

don't mind me, just passing by and fucking off again

- i'm not sure anybody is just one aspect of their identity all the time, and i think all aspects of identity are to some extent situational and performative. so it ought to be possible in theory to question those aspects of ourselves and critique them and to at least wonder whether we could do them differently. fwiw i think these are also the assumptions of people who think masculinity has positives that should be emphasized or developed.

And that's why I'm okay with 'masculinity' being described as toxic, even though I'm quite 'masculine' myself.

Are you though? Or is that you’re Tuomas two? A weird bald Scandinavian looking for love and cred in all the wrong places?

Surely masculinity kind of does mean 'men and everything they do' though? As an individual man there's nothing you do and nothing you are that is somehow outside of masculinity? Like how when ppl arguing about stuff on the internet say "ok, but leaving gender/race/class aside for a moment...", and it makes no sense because there's nothing 'beyond' those things.

I think you're mixing up masculinity and maleness there? I can't escape my maleness, no matter how I behave - it's a position of privilege within the current system. But "masculinity" doesn't just refer to the position of being a cis male - it's a code of conduct, a set of expectations of what males should be like and behave like. And yeah of course I can do tons of stuff that falls outside those parameters! Much as non-males can engage in masculine behaviour.

The idea of a non-toxic masculinity, when I've encountered it, tends to be equally prescriptive - finding examples of "good men" and asking ppl to emulate them. Which I guess is fine, it's probably a step a lot of ppl need at this point. But it's also alienating to me, because it does presuppose a kind of gender essentialism, that men need other men to look to for how to behave.

http://m.quickmeme.com/img/08/083d6c2582aa4e971e99e4a959afe4a1c6b965a569d965c7288946290245ffee.jpg

what's your take on why I'm wrong

Soref, you are badly missing the plot. Sorry to have to explain it again, but toxic masculinity = "bro culture." It's fine to be a man and it's even fine to be a cis, straight man and do manly things. However, there are certain things commonly mistaken for "masculine" traits that seem to be applauded or encouraged among a subset of people that serve to distinguish a "real man." The idea that real men must be dominant, cold, and selfish 100% of the time is toxic. It's not okay to commit or condone sexual assault or rape, to engage in violence over any perceived slight, or to question or police another's manliness or sexual orientation because they did something differently to how you would have done it. It's that sense of hostility and overblown machismo that is now defined as "toxic masculinity." Remove those things and you're left with regular masculinity. And if you want that to be the whole of your identity, that's fine, but I think you'd be limiting yourself somewhat.

separate topic, I think this guy is actually a 33-year-old democratic party consultant posing as a high school student

https://ei.marketwatch.com/Multimedia/2018/03/24/Photos/ZH/MW-GG195_hogg_2_20180324134838_ZH.jpg?uuid=94f95c8e-2f8b-11e8-b712-ac162d7bc1f7

it's even fine to be a cis, straight man and do manly things.

gee thanks!

Can everyone please issue statements to sleepingbag that they aren't personally dictating what he can and can't do in order to avoid any further misunderstandings?

I’m not making any extra effort for sleepingbag

Fair enough, he would probably find something else to deliberately misunderstand anyway.

sorry guys you're right, this is the first time i've ever encountered a progressive condescendingly licensing proper ideas + behavior as if they were in a position to do so and it took me by complete surprise

deliberately

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

Try a little harder

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step 2 me I'll roll u up sleepingbag
then take u camping and forget u at the campsite and never call to see if u turned up

Lol

part of why my writing has been somewhat impactful has a lot to do with me being male, and being allowed to write angry things without being described as 'hysterical' for instance. And that's why I'm okay with 'masculinity' being described as toxic

this is interesting -- the "toxic" adjective is in a sense corrective: if women are going to take the same tack and be labeled "hysterical" (or some equivalent), it's only fair (it follows) that men should be policed similarly

toxic use of ‘impactful’

this is interesting -- the "toxic" adjective is in a sense corrective: if women are going to take the same tack and be labeled "hysterical" (or some equivalent), it's only fair (it follows) that men should be policed similarly

hmmm idk, that's a trap that a lot of leftists/progressives/whatevers fall into i think, following privilege rhetoric to the conclusion that everyone's lives should be shittier instead of raised up to the same standard of how we currently treat straight white males.

also "let's call them all terrorists" instead of "maybe they all need mental health help"

this stuff is always on my mind but i can't say i have anything constructive to add about it any more (i used to think so). i kind of let my feelings guide my actions and try not to get too involved in making pronouncements on myself or others. if someone is being pretty obviously misogynist, i try to 'close the tab' so to speak or remove myself from the situation because it just makes me angry. also if someone seems too invested in 'being masculine' (mentions it in their grindr bio for instance), that's a turn-off. caring enough about being in some kind of role to name it says you're too neurotic about it for me and not interested in real sun energy (exploring all the roles). i am kind of fascinated whenever i see people performing masculinity: how natural does it seem, where are the cracks, when does the tension of doing it erupt into a bit of self-consciousness and what do the escape valves look like (humor? humiliation?)

lately i feel like an aspect of 'masculinity' people are needing / desiring is rootedness, which absolutely shouldn't be gendered and maybe that's part of the problem. like thinking about the texas bomber, how derelict does your soil have to be in order to do something like that.

I won't defend Samantha Bee for her comment, knowing the WHAT ABOUT debate it would inevitably have kicked off.

^^^

shudder to think what the world would be like without samantha bee's important voice

ok bad post, I'm sure people like her

I don't really care what she called Ivanka but she and Oliver strike me as standard bearers of tepid liberal "resistance." And Oliver looks radical next to her.

yeah i bet she hasn't even broken any bank windows

Iirc she mocked people who go to protests for “not voting” and her evidence of this was low turnout in an effectively uncontested Los Angeles mayoral race. Even the women’s march was too radical for her.

are you being full of shit on purpose

or is your "iirc" just malfunctioning

her beliefs don't align 100% with mine (she has had trouble letting go of the hillary clinton train or admitting that her candidate/campaign has severe flaws) but in general she highlights really important issues and is funny and gives a voice to people who normally don't get to address millions of people on tv. so i'm willing to forgive her for not being perfect

xposts

shes funny

END OF M8

lip and cheek piercings are unpleasant to look at and make me worry about people who have them

agree

What are you worried about?

You shouldn't have to serve anyone at a restaurant that you don't want to.

hmm

maybe if you could serve them in another room or something

a distinct but altogether equivalent room, for the people you might not otherwise want to serve

other than the person being rejected being too inebriated/naked the only stories I've ever heard of refusing to serve someone at a restaurant have been white people refusing service to people of colour in rural areas

how naked is "too naked"

"no shirt/no shoes = no service" seems pretty common