Bristol Palin
Say it isn’t so! Telling a boy to grow up and “be a man” is considered by some as “toxic masculinity.” It’s one of the “three most destructive words” a young man can hear according to a documentary on the subject.
The Mask You Live In is a film that is deconstructing maleness on college campuses. The College Fix interviewed a Gettysburg College freshman who was recently exposed to the film and “lectured by campus leaders about ‘toxic masculinity.’”
Because James Goodman “identified as male” (duh!), he and others were shown the docudrama to help them realize the “harmful side effects of masculinity” such as how “respect is linked to violence.”
Experts appear in the film saying, “whether it’s homicidal violence or suicidal violence, people resort to such desperate behavior only when they are feeling shame or humiliated, or feel they would be if they didn’t prove that they were real men.”
“They really buy into a culture that doesn’t value what we feminize,” they add. Of course, links between masculinity and mass shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary are made.
Goodman said and after-film discussion included “what we look for in a good male friend” and activities that rated acceptable and unacceptable male behaviors.
“The entire movie and lesson made it seem like masculinity was an unacceptable human trait.,” Goodman said. “That it’s something males should avoid. It was completely pointless. It did nothing to help anyone. I got absolutely nothing out of the experience, other than a headache.”
Gettysburg College passed these lessons off as teaching its incoming pupils how to be successful in the student body. Goodman and others even had to sit through skit after skit on microaggressions, gender identity, and even the Confederate flag as part of the orientation process.
When did colleges become the training ground for wimps? There’s nothing wrong with being a man and you can bet that Dakota and I are going to continue encouraging him in that direction for the rest of his life. I want him to be the best man he can be, and I will never apologize for that.
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