What is toxic masculinity?

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Okay so I’m sure by now we’ve all seen the Gillette Advertisement deconstructing toxic masculinity (and if you haven’t here is a link to go and watch that). Which, by the way, I LOVE!! Please teach boys they can be soft!! But what is toxic masculinity?

Anyway, I came across an article which kind of also deconstructs notions of toxic masculinity. In a new study conducted by the Queensland University of Technology, discussing men’s complicated feelings after having sex. You can read up about the article I’m talking about here.

About toxic masculinity:

Basically, the study shows that “41% of men in the study are affected by post-coital dysphoria (PCD) which leaves them feeling sad and/or irritable post sex”. Firstly, the article says that women have been suffering this so-called condition for whoever knows how long! The legitimacy of this diagnosis is in a bit of a grey area for me. I don’t think they should be labelling feeling ‘anything other than x’ after sex, a disorder of any kind – because, hello, it’s okay to express yourself no matter what you’re feeling?

Anyway, it’s interesting that they discuss men feeling sad after sex because it leads me to the assumption that the belief is that men should feel REALLY GOOD after sex, which I guess from this study isn’t always the case. I feel like we’re really getting into toxic masculinity territory with this article and more so reconstructing the expectations to BE ‘that kind of man’, because it’s encouraged by the researchers that couples should be more communicative in order to combat PCD.

I have lots of feelings about this but please tell me yours! What do you think the article means? Do you think toxic masculinity is bad? Do you experience sadness after sex? Has a partner?

Sex lingo | Re-defining Men

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