The thing these days is to speak of “the man box” and “toxic masculinity” in one breath, as if the two are the same thing and if we only found a way to detoxify manhood, we’d be all done with the man box. But the idea that men shouldn’t wear skirts isn’t limited to toxicity….
Category: Into the Labyrinth
Weaponizing “Bullying”
I’m a member of a teacher group that loves weaponizing the word “bullying.” It got so bad that I left it for a few weeks to get my focus back. Bullying is a serious problem, and one that we tend to wrongly assume is limited to children. Bullying occurs when one person abuses their power…
A Time to Keep Silent
The stereotypical mother says, “If you can’t say something nice….” That exhortation is meant to remind us that we shouldn’t say mean things about other people. Well, okay. I think there are times to say mean things about other people, but that’s not the point of my sermon here today. I used to be quite…
Being this man (introduction)
This was the only post of a blog called “Being This Man” There are many articles on how to be a man, what a “real” man is like, and similar topics. These articles are generally reductionist and sexist. I chose the title of this blog because, while I intend on discussing issues of manhood in…