The author of this opinion piece is a British writer who wrote a book about raising boys. The thrust of her argument is that it’s not enough to get away from “toxic masculinity” which she associated with traditional, right-leaning people. She argues we should probably also get away from the “positive masculinity” that some on the left are promoting as an alternative.
“Positive masculinity” has been around for a while. Most likely coined in early 2000s by psychologists as a way of working with male patients in therapy, the term has now become the go-to framework for the wider progressive discussion about boys and men. It has also inspired a spate of programs and initiatives aimed at enticing boys to embrace more feminine-coded virtues such as emotional vulnerability and nurturing. Masculinity has had an unfairly bad rap, its proponents argue, becoming permanently shackled to the…
