A phenomenon observed by sociologists, anthroplogists, feminists, etc., in which ideals attributed to hyper-masculinity/machismo culture cause detriment to society.
While it's understood that society's less advantaged (i.e., the disabled, the homeless, children, women, refugees, et al) incur significant hardship owing to
toxic masculinity, its perpetuation also renders men themselves into a state of loneliness.
Expressions of
toxic masculinity include "edgy" jokes (which oftentimes lack a punchline yet functionally devalue the joke's
target) bullying (both
cyber as well as IRL), "brutish" masculinity (counter to the much healthier *embracing* masculinity), misogyny, victim blaming, unsolicited sexualization, exploitation, violence,
one-upping, the entire "
incel" community, and much of the hostility demonstrated in gaming culture.
In other words, if a man is embodying the "class clown"
stereotype as an adult, he's typically exhibiting masculinity of a more
toxic nature.
Ultimately, wars are historically started by men (i.e., those in power), while the threat of women in power (e.g., Hilary Clinton, Kamala Harris) draws unapologetically misogynistic remarks.
Meanwhile, women can and do demonstrate and perpetuate
toxic masculinity themselves. Observed exacerbation of the phenomenon of
toxic masculinity may be attributed to increasing knowledge surrounding its existence or of society's progressive feminization (e.g., interconnectedness and openness to self-expression).
