"Masculinity"

Anonus

It always struck me as rather restrictive.

Central Avenue

Amen to that.

(It's a shame I don't actually have anything to add.)

Gelzo

What definition are we going by?

Leradny

Congratulations, you have an opinion.

Anonus

The sort-of repress-everything-not-"manly" kind.

Gelzo

That's a bit circular, isn't it? I'm not sure if there's much to discuss regarding the opinion that restrictive ideals of masculinity are restrictive.

And you haven't mentioned in what way it's restrictive. Do we know of any examples?

Leradny

Of course it would strike people who don't particularly fit into the general idea of it as restrictive.  It's a category of associated traits that shifts among cultural norms or even just a period of reinvention.  Acclimatization over as little as a single generation brought up to behave in those traits causes it to be the accepted state.  The average person has no problem fitting in with at least some of these traits.  You thinking that traditional masculinity in whatever culture you inhabit is a restricting behavioral set means that you share less traits that fall under it with the average person.

You complaining about feeling stifled makes you sound like you're aware of your differences but not confident in yourself.

Tnophelia

It's called Sour Grapes.

Or Cognitive Dissonance. It's where you hate something that people think is good, and you convince yourself it's not as great as it seems or worse than it sounds.

This is infact, laughable.

Males always worrying about masculinity.

Myrmidon

Nuh-uh, Tongpu told me that Sour Grapes means lying to other people but not yourself.

Khwarizmi

@ Leradny: All that would be fine if there weren't people who treat you like you're somehow a worse person or less of a man because you don't conform to masculine traits, but there are.  That's what makes it restrictive; not the personality type itself, but the attitudes surrounding it.

Tnophelia

Except Tongpu doesn't exist.

Sour Grapes = "I cant have it so it must suck"

Leradny

The OP hasn't said anything substantial about other people being restrictive, so I'm not going to spin my interpretation of those words.

Khwarizmi

Except it's part-and-parcel of the concept of masculinity.  It's directly tied to the notion of being a man in our culture.

Besides, why else would the OP complain about masculinity being restrictive?  The notion that you have to conform to it is precisely what makes it so restrictive.

┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(`Д´）╯︵ ┻━┻

I'm pretty sure sour grapes only counts if you want it in the first place. You only say it sucks after failing to get it.

I don't know if Anonus wants it or not, though.

Khwarizmi

Anonus didn't say it sucked.  I don't think it sucks, I just can't do it, so I think it's restrictive.

Gelzo

I consider myself fairly masculine, but that self-image doesn't conflict with my enjoyment of cartoons for children and/or girls.

Tnophelia

I don't get why people are still bugged by this, other than Kino stuff.

Kino

Pray tell, what stuff?

[Deleted User]

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Schitzo

Prickwaving contests are so boring.