I’m a straight man and I’m comfortable in my gender and sexual identity etc I just don’t feel the need to do anything stereotypically “masculine”. Maybe it’s just because I never felt like labels or categories define you or limit you. I just do me and what I enjoy and don’t worry too much about societal expectations.
But I read on here a lot of people who do seem to care about this stuff. Saying things like “the man always wants to be the provider”. Talking about what it means to be a man in the 21st century, and how masculinity has changed.
I’m not denying these people’s experiences, just curious about the difference- why you do feel it’s important to asset a masculine role or identity? Or why not? What even is “masculinity”?
For starters, I don’t think anybody has gone out of their way to seek out what “masculinity” is. The issue is that social media platforms such as X, and Tiktok have a pervasive amount of social media content and influencers that are pushing the idea of what it means to be a man in this changing world. It just so happens that this content seems to align with a Christian patriarchy. The content is subtle, but pushed in many different ways. For example, look how prevalent the idea of the trad wife is becoming, and the social media influencers that are pushing what’s commonly known as “cottage-core” lifestyles. They are trying to develop and push the ideals that are common with these Christian lifestyles, and I think that people buy into it just due to the amount of content that they are exposed to. Essentially, our younger generation is being brainwashed.
It’s understandable to say that you don’t understand it or get why people care, but don’t you remember how uncertain being 16-20 was? These people are being fed the wrong ideas when they are at their most vulnerable and are latching onto anything that makes sense… unfortunately, there isn’t really content that argues the opposite, at least not that I’m aware of.