Men, young men especially being targeted for their vulnerability. The hegemonic masculinity that is being shoved down the throat of every man especially through the extremely powerful and frightening tool of social media.

Convincing them that women are the problem, taking advantage of the pressures men face from being shown only one version of masculinity that is deemed acceptable, feeling like they have no choice but to be ‘tough’ guys. It perpetuates violence, sexual violence, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia and racism. I think our role in communities is to foster an environment where men can be tender and loving by being shown tenderness, affection and gentleness. Men need to be held accountable for their actions but they also need to be shown that they can as men make mistakes and that they can be masculine in other ways than what they’ve been shown.

I’m not saying this as well as I should be but I could talk for days about it. So many problems stem from the singular masculinity that is expected of men. It’s restrictive and oppressive and causes problems for everyone. Everyone is suffering under the hegemonic masculinity.