The mockery of Gus Walz is almost a caricature of toxic masculinity [View all]

[geniph]

And yes, I'm aware some of the mockery is coming from women, but to me, that just emphasizes my point - they've internalized these ridiculous gender-policing norms, too. The idea that the only emotion it's permissible for a boy or a man to show is anger is where so much of the toxicity comes from. So there are kids right now, watching their parents mock a neurodivergent boy for being so overcome with love and pride for his dad that he cries, and what will those kids take away from this? Must not show genuine love and pride, must not be so filled with emotion that it comes out as TEARS, oh, heavens to Betsy, what would the neighbors think?

When you don't allow people to freely express genuine emotions of love (or grief, or whatever), but you do allow them to freely express anger, when you even encourage the expression of unbridled rage but no other emotion, is it any surprise that all that repressed emotion comes out as violence? Sometimes the violence is directed inward, and those are the ones who commit suicide. Sometimes it's outward, and we've all seen too much of that.

Please don't teach your children not to cry. Teach them how to manage their emotions, yes, but please don't repress their expression altogether. We have had so many generations now with this fucked-up idea that men aren't allowed to cry. Sometimes venting emotion via tears is the most cathartic thing one can do. And I say that as a woman who almost never cries - but I was brought up in a truly fucked-up, repressed-emotion way, too. I know the damage it does.