The Myth of "Toxic" Masculinity

Or why the "Toxic" part, of "Toxic Masculinity", has nothing to do with authentic and natural masculinity.

Toxic Masculinity is a myth, or to be precise, a prevarication.

There is no such thing. Masculinity, is not toxic. Masculinity is simply one half of the primordial equation of life.

This is not about semantics, it's about intellectual honesty. This is about the power of language and how that power is misused. How the simple arrangement of two words can dramatically alter meaning.

Toxic masculinity = masculinity is toxic.

Toxic male = a human male that is toxic.

This is a classic fallacy of association, i.e. "guilt by association". Some men are toxic. Toxic men exhibit traits and behaviors that are masculine. Therefore, masculinity is toxic.

This is simple to correct and only requires honesty. Individuals can be toxic not their biological sex. For example, when was the last time you heard anyone talking about "Toxic Femininity"? The fact is, all humans have the capacity for toxic behavior. Labeling this behavior in men as "Toxic Masculinity" is pure sophistry.

Don't get me wrong, I’m well aware of the serious problem of male toxic behavior. I know that the problem is real, cultural, and systemic. My purpose in writing this is to address the actual problem. Not politically and ideologically manufactured problems but authentic problems. As well, I’m not picking a side here only to throw stones at those on the other side. I'm in no way attempting to excuse toxic male behavior.

It's quite the opposite really. My intention is an accurate diagnosis that exposes real problems. This misdirection of terminology distorts both sides of the argument. This is important, as I will explain, toxic male behavior is not authentically masculine behavior. The simplistic excuse, that toxic males are just men being men, is not true.

My main intention in exposing the sophistry of this terminology is to correct the problem of toxic male behavior. The psychology and behavior of toxic men is a destructive problem in human society. A problem ingrained into politics, culture, and even science. Human evolution and society needs coherent and beneficial men. Without an accurate and honest diagnosis of our problems we have no hope of correcting them.

Any argument formed with divisive language is automatically invalid. The entire argument is a false premise based in ignorance and fallacy. No individual is determined 100% by their sex, race, nationality or ideology. Every individual is a complete and whole being responsible for their choices, decisions, and behavior. Of course, many things influence our decisions and behaviors. Yet, even in extreme cases, such as mind control and coercion, an individual must act by their own agency. All variables and complexity must be considered before an accurate judgement can be made.

Our natural masculinity is not the cause of this problem but it can be a part of the solution. Actually, toxic men are acting against their intrinsic masculine nature. They allow ego, greed, and insecurity to influence them. These are problems of psychology, dogma and prejudice, not of masculinity.

Determination of cause is difficult because human behavior is often expressed through our sexuality. Although, this does not mean that sexuality is the origin of our behavior. That may sound like a contradictory statement. Put simply, our body can influence our behavior without being the origin of our behavior. As we humans often say when talking about our relationships, “It's complicated”.

Confusion surrounds our contemporary understanding of femininity and masculinity. What should be basic and obvious has become ambiguous. Five years ago, I would not have believed that the question "What is a woman?"could cause such a fiercely contested debate. Human society's capacity for rational thought is facing an existential crisis.

The main problem I see, is most definitions are not actually defining masculinity. They are defining variations of social concepts and cultural models. We're making it more complicated than necessary by not clearly defining our terminology. We're mixing unclear ideologies into the blatantly obvious distinction between male and female. Sexual dimorphism in humans could not be more conspicuous and clear. Biological differences are objective, not subjective. Look at the present confusion surrounding gender. From the dawn of time there has been only two genders. What's causing this confusion is not about gender. The confusion is caused by "gender ideology". Variations of ideology are only limited by imagination.

The immutable fact of binary sexual biology will never change. Masculine, masculinity, male. Feminine, femininity, female. These are simply words to delineate the differences between male and female. This is an unambiguous objective reality. That's how we know it's an "objective" reality, because how we think about it can never change it.

The suffix -ity is used to form abstract nouns expressing state, condition, or quality. Not the subjective concept of a quality, or a social construct, but the objective state of a thing. For instance, a word like "purity", as in "water purity". Purity is measurable, it's testable, it's not subjective. The factual biological state or quality of a human female is femininity. The state of being male, defines the condition, or quality of masculinity. Of course there is a lot of room for divergence within these definitions. Obviously all men are not exactly the same. Yet, all men share certain persistent qualities of masculinity. For example, all males have an X and Y chromosomes, all males are born with a penis, etcetera. (Excluding for things like single-gene mutations or chromosomal aberrations).

"True hermaphrodites possessing both sets of functional gonads and genitalia have never been observed in Homo sapiens."

- Georgi K. Marinov)

"...the objective truth is that sex in humans is strictly binary and immutable, for fundamental reasons that are common knowledge to all biologists taking the findings of their discipline seriously. Denying that sex in humans is binary attacks the very foundations of biological sciences."

- Georgi K. Marinov - Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA https://www.nas.org/academic-questions/33/2/in-humans-sex-is-binary-and-immutable

Masculinity is a vital function of the biological imperative. As much a part of the natural order of life as water or wind. In a similar manner even water may appear as toxic. Caused by pollution and the suspension of toxic chemicals. The water itself has not become toxic. The toxicity exist in the chemicals suspended in the water. In the same way toxicity in humans is contained within our psychology and personality. This potential exist for both male and female. Behavioral toxicity is not intrinsic to sexual biology. Although, toxic behavior is very often expressed through sexual identity. As our personality can be expressed through other belief systems. I.e. status, politics, positions of authority, and religions.

There are very good reasons for the differences between male and female. These are positive adaptive traits that have insured the survival of our species for millions of years. The natural essence of masculinity is to be protective. A coherent adaptive variation, reinforced by millions of years of successful natural selection. The difference between male and female especially in mammals is clear. In size, muscle mass, and strength. The purpose for increased masculine size and strength has always been for the protection of the species. The essence of true masculinity is to be protective. To protect life. Which means precisely, to protect the primary source of life. This has always been the women and children.

So in fact a self-centered man, one that is brutal and abusive is acting opposed to the true nature of their masculinity. These are weak unmasculine men of very low value. They are in fact detrimental to the evolution of the human species. True masculinity evolved from positive adaptations that proved the usefulness of beneficial masculine traits. Strength, intelligence, vitality, and compassion. This is the true nature of masculinity.

In the universal principles of Yin and Yang we also see the essential nature of masculinity. Yang being masculine and Yin feminine. These universal polarities clearly show the protective nature of the masculine yang principal.

This is easy to see when you apply the yin-yang aspects to the human body. The outermost parts of the body are hardened and protective. The inside parts are softer and receptive.

Consider the basics of martial arts. To block a blow you use the hard outside of the arm. When you make a fist the hardest parts of the hand, the Yang aspects, are on the outside. The softer parts of the hand, the Yin aspects, are on the inside. The inside is protected by the outside. Yang's principal nature is to protect Yin. The universal principle of the masculine is to be protective of the feminine.

The toxic male is a maladapted sociopath, a miscreant degenerate that brings no true value to humanity. They serve only their own self centered desires, ego, and insecurity. These pathogenic traits would have ruined such a man's ability to survive in the wild. As our hunter and gatherer ancestors did. A world that demands capable intelligence, coherent collaboration, and unity. The deciding factor of natural selection is capability.

Coherent adaptive natural selection rewards the successful and ignores the unsuccessful. That is why the toxic male is a relatively modern adaptation. Maladaptive males are an unfortunate consequence of civilization. A man can have big muscles, high testosterone, and the classic physical traits associated with manliness. Although, these are only the physical attributes, existing only on the surface of a man. This is only the appearance of masculinity. The true character of a man goes deep within. It is a fundamental part of his entire character.

Strength, intelligence, vitality, and capability, these are positive adaptations. Traits that are hard-wired, into both male and female qualities by human evolution.

Conclusion:

Humans removed themselves from living within the natural order many thousands of years ago. Thereby insulating our species from the synergistic living systems that guide natural selection. We're no longer evolving within the integrated orientation of natural selection.

Artificial environments, synthetic processed foods, and social constructs, now have predominance over the evolutionary process.

Natural living systems self-organize towards coherent complexity and equilibrium. It is only when disruption occurs that imbalance will permeate the system. This is has been observed many times and is known to cause maladaptive behavior.

An excellent example of an artificial environment influencing a full spectrum of maladaptive behaviors, is the Universe 25. The Mouse Utopia experiment.

In 1972, John B. Calhoun created what he called a mouse utopia and named it Universe 25. In this universe the mice, no mater how many there were, would have everything they needed. Food, water nesting spaces and supplies. The only thing limited was the size of Universe 25. No matter how large the mouse population grew Universe 25 stayed the same size. It didn't take long for overpopulation to develop. They still had all the resources they needed, they just didn't have any space to themselves. The list of behavioral problems was extensive. Universe 25 became living hell with the population density overload. Predictable effects like violence, social breakdown and chaos occurred. The scary part was the unexpected behaviors that began.

Abnormal sexual behaviors, neglecting babies and even cannibalism, forming healthy social bonds stopped. Some males began compulsively grooming themselves and lost interest in females or mating. Females tried to isolate themselves and stopped getting pregnant. The very few babies that were born all died. Even when relocated to live with normal mice their maladaptive behavior didn't improve. The damage was irreversible.

In Universe 25 a population of 2,200 mice collapsed to just 122.

So it's not a stretch at all to suggest that human destructive and maladaptive behavior originates from a similar form of imbalance.

Healthy behaviors are now rare and maladaptive behavior seems to be everywhere. For Universe 25 it took about a year. For human civilization its been around 7000 years.

We can not explain the apparent consciousness of living systems that guide the process of natural selection. But it's clear in observation. Evolution supports and promotes successful decisions and behavior. While ignoring unsuccessful and incoherent behavior. Allowing cause and effect to sort it all out.

What is clear is that positive adaptive variations guide evolution. Maladaptive behavior breaks down the coherent process. Sending the evolution of a species into malignant degeneration.

Humans evolution is no longer governed by natural selection. We are falling into the same dystopia as Universe 25.

To stop this we must take responsibility for our own evolutionary course correction. We can allow natural coherency to heal our fractured consciousness.

As a man I will allow my natural masculinity to purify the toxins in my behavior. Natural selection can no longer chose for us, we must take responsibility for these decisions ourselves.