Men After #MeToo - The Other Side of Masculinity

The world of Anthropology, much like the rest of the world, is constantly changing.

There are so many people doing brilliant things and sharing wonderful ideas that it’s hard to keep up. With a recent focus on people like Andrew Tate and their reach and influence in society, we thought it might be nice to share a little of the other side of the coin.

Masculinity has copped a bad wrap of late. While it's not entirely undeserved, ‘toxic masculinity’ is often what people are thinking about in these situations, and just like toxic metals and toxic chemicals, toxic attitudes are dangerous. But that doesn’t mean that we shy away from building with steel or using TGA-approved medicines, we’ve simply found safe and sturdy ways to work with them. The same can be said for toxic masculinity.

Of course, it needs to be said that not all forms of masculinity are toxic. But unhealthy forms of masculinity come from somewhere and are satisfying some sort of need, and if we ignore it, or push it to the fringes, it won’t go away…it will only get worse!

The world is changing, and men and boys of all ages are struggling with what I call a “Crisis of Masculinity”; where they don’t really know their place in society, where they are profoundly disconnected and lonely, and where they don’t know how to connect with other people in healthy ways.

But as humans, we like to put things into boxes. It makes them easier to store, to categorise and sometimes even to find…especially when things are complex and messy and hard! And that’s why, during periods of change, we often see an increase in people doubling down on rigid concepts of gender that have very strict rules…and it can be incredibly dangerous!

So, when it comes to doing something about it, giving ourselves an opportunity to rethink our understanding of what it means to be a man, the ways that men, women and people of all genders can engage within society, including the roles and responsibilities that they undertake is an excellent first step.

Here are a few ways we’ve gotten around content that shows the other side:

Listen

All Things Equal - After #MeToo: Men Before and After.

Read

The Man They Wanted Me To Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Own Making

Jared Yates Sexton

Watch

The Man Box 2024 - The Man Box Report Overview

Want to know more? Check out the rest of our blogs here or take a deep dive with our Men After #MeToo workshop.