Performative male
"Males are not allowed simply to be who they are and to glory in their unique identity. Their value is always determined by what they do."
– Bell Hooks, The Will to Change
It is a great mistake to confuse physical strength, dominance, violence, vulgarity, or brutality with masculinity. Masculinity is emotional stability, undaunted integrity, quiet courage, humility, generosity, and capacity for enduring love, or it is nothing.
Dee Hock • Autobiography of a Restless Mind: Reflections on the Human Condition Volume 1
Right now, too many young men are being fed the junk food variety of masculinity. The magic bullet, use steroids, dominate others, get rich quick on Crypto version. We’re not doing a good enough job of championing a more sustainable and healthier version, one that ultimately leads to more success than the bastardized concept of an alpha-male.
Steve Magness • The Crisis of Masculinity
hypervigilance required to maintain masculine performance.
"Masculinity is much more rigid and requires constant self-regulation... Even if a man squats three hundred pounds, biting into beef jerky with one hand and fighting a hungry bear with the other, his masculinity would still be put into question for ordering a drink that comes in a cosmo
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