Toxic Masculinity can be defined as harmful “socially-constructed” set values, beliefs and attitudes that express the opinion that men are not allowed to be emotional unless the emotion they are displaying is one related to anger and aggressive behaviour. For centuries the aspirational male was described as “macho”, “leader” and “red-blooded”. I feel believe that these aspirational values are what created a world where inequality amongst the different genders run rampant. I believe that these aspirational values are what makes the male suicide rate worldwide 1.7 times higher than what it is for females (this is according to the World Health Organisation). I know that that doesn’t sound like a lot but think about for a moment… for every 3 females that commit suicide 5,1 males successfully do the same.
“Every man… falls on that spectrum of a wild animal to civilized human being… some of us are a bit wilder animal than others”- Dan Hardy.
Seeing that I described masculinity as only being able to display negative and aggressive emotion it wouldn’t be too farfetched say that fighting is a way of displaying such emotions. Dan Hardy a UFC MMA fighter opinion on masculinity in regards to UFC:
“Every man as we talk about masculinity falls on that spectrum of a wild animal to civilized human being… some of us have a bit more wild animal, and the wild animal needs to manifest someway”. Do men have to expose their wild side to the world, or is this just a result of the role models’ men had while growing up? Does being a man mean you have to fight? Does being a man mean you cannot cry?
One of the best examples that I could think of a character that embodies Toxic Masculinity is the X-Men’s very own rabid Wolverine. Now don’t get me wrong I love Wolverine, he fights for what he believes, he fights to protect his friends, he fights to achieve his goals, he fights…just a little bit too much. This is why I believe he is the poster boy for Toxic Masculinity in society.
Wolverine is a character with a troubled past. Since he was born he has been facing numerous challenges. He was born to John and Elizabeth Howlett in 1897, before discovering that his actual father was the groundskeeper for the Howlett’s Thomas Logan. He has been facing numerous challenges like getting abducted by the Canadian Super soldier serum group called “Weapon X”, having a whole lot of friends die in WWI, WWII, the Spanish Civil war, and the Vietnam War. He has had an on-going war with his Half-Brother Sabretooth, Victor Creed, so this means that this man has a lot of underlying psychological scars that he needs to deal with.
“You know, sometimes when you cage the beast, the beast gets angry." - Wolverine
Regrettably, for Logan, he does not deal with his problems by talking, a hit first and ask question later approach. Naturally, this puts a lot of strain on many of his relationships, as he doesn’t have a lot of people who he can call his friends, bar Professor Xavier and a few other people. Having friends, in my opinion, allows you as a person to talk about the things that are hurting you, to share your burdens with other people. Sure, your family can help with that but in Logan’s case, he has no one.
Sharing your emotions and experiences is something that does not fit into the society made a mould of what a man is supposed to be. I believe that if Logan shared more, spoke more and even cried more with the people around him, his sad life would be a lot easier to cope with. As I revisit the stats released by the WHO about suicide one needs to ask the question, that if being emotional is what woman do and they have a lower suicide rate than men… then men need to be man enough to cry.
-Yours Truly-
Tshilli Pepper Tshedza
Figure 1: The Wolverine ♚ PrInCe Af DaNmArK ♚
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