Toxic masculinity is one of the ways in which Patriarchy is harmful to men. It is the socially-constructed attitudes that describe the masculine gender role as violent, unemotional, sexually aggressive, and so forth.
A well-known masculinity movement that is not mostly anti-feminist has yet to appear.
Examples
- Men are just like that: the idea that a Real Man constantly thinks about sex.
- Emasculation: the idea that there is a finite range of political attitudes a Real Man can hold.
- The idea that Real Men should be prepared to be violent, even when it is not called for.
- For example, a common response to women's tales of experiencing street harassment is for a man who's listening to say, "If I was there, I would have punched [the harasser]." This is problematic .
- The expectation that Real Men are strong, and that showing emotion is incompatible with being strong. Anger is either framed as the exception to the rule, or as not an emotion.
- Relatedly, the idea that a Real Man cannot be a victim of abuse, or that talking about it is shameful.
- Though not reinforced much in fictional media, in real life it is widely expected that a man would abandon his pregnant girlfriend, and is incapable and/or unwilling to take responsibility.