Masculinity has been taught to young boys as never showing weakness, only showing strength. Masculinity becomes toxic when traits such as strength, resilience, and toughness become over-pronounced in someone's overall being.
Toxic masculinity is weaved into our society. Young boys are taught to be tough, resilient, and strong. You rarely see teenage boys cry when they are upset or talk about their emotions. The stigma around masculinity is the suffering in silence approach to handling feelings. When someone says "man up," they are telling you to toughen up. In high tension situations, 67% of men 18-24 years old said they felt they needed to show hyper-masculinity.
Those who identify as masculine tend to have a more challenging time getting mental illness treatment because there is a stigma around mental illness that getting help makes you weak, and men don't want to admit to a weakness. One in every five men will not live to 50 in the Americas because of issues connected to toxic masculinity according to the pan-American Health organization. It's hard to be vulnerable when the world around you is constantly saying you can't show your true emotions.
Toxic masculinity is imbedded in our societal mindset so changing how with think about masculinity, emotions, and cultural expectations for gender roles is how best to stop it. Everyone is vulnerable and everyone has emotions, so be a real person and show your true self.
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