Forged in Fire is Positive Masculinity
Posted:
I've long been critical of the discourse around masculinity. For the archetypal right-winger, masculinity means machismo, at least mild sexism, the rugged loner individualist who picks a fight and never cries because Men Are Supposed To Be Strong(tm). For the archetypal left-winger, the word "masculinity" is simply never uttered without the word "toxic" before it, because anything that implies males and females are different at all is inherently misogynist and thus destructive and we must not allow differences to exist.
You can probably tell from my tone just how much contempt I have for both modes of discourse.
A large part of the issue is that the Left seems incapable of offering a coherent concept of masculinity that it doesn't deem "toxic" that is not defined in negative terms — not this traditional thing that is now negative, not that traditional thing that is now negative, etc. — or in terms that are traditionally viewed as feminine. That's not to say that femininity is bad, but if your answer to "what is positive masculinity" is basically "traditional femininity," then you don't have a useful answer.
The Right, meanwhile, doesn't offer an alternative at all, doubling down on the idea that emotionally cold, violence-prone, sex-obsessed tough guys is the one and only natural state for males, despite the blatantly obvious psychological damage that does to men everywhere.
If we want to have a meaningful and positive understanding of masculinity, then we need to have examples of it that we can collectively agree are good role models. There is some discourse on that, but far too little and it's usually drowned out by the loud-mouths on both sides.
I'd like to offer a case in point of positive masculinity for consideration: The show Forged in Fire.