The ‘Toxic Masculinity’ Smear

I just had to address this National Review article with regards to "toxic masculinity" especially this excerpt:

If men are not told to be “gentlemen,” some will be emasculated, but more will become destructive men. If men are not trained by good men, they will be trained by bad men; if they have no good males to follow, they follow bad ones. The Left routinely speaks about a world run by women and why such a world would create better men. But the most male-free environment in America exists in black communities, where well over half of black children grow up without fathers. This hasn’t made black boys less violent; it’s made them far more prone to criminality than their non-black peers. Many of these boys follow teenage role models, many of whom have lacked fathers themselves, and lack the training to be a gentleman. They live in a world of risk that requires masculine defense but have no one to teach them to distinguish between defense and aggression.

Of course the gist of the article is namely about the idea of "toxic masculinity" in general and the general answer to it which includes emasculation. Perhaps there are a segment of parents that want to take away from boys the aspects of what makes them boys. That may include the energy which also entails aggression.

Now this I wanted to discuss with regards to Black fathers and Black boys. Why aren't there many Black fathers in Black communities? Are they all in prison? Are they avoiding the women they have babies with? Are the women who had the babies chasing the men away after giving birth? Are the men engaged in high risk activities that either result in them going to prison for an extended stretch of time or otherwise are in the grave?

I can buy the idea that the boys who are left behind are looking for in role models the wrong type of men. That is the type of men who only can cause real serious trouble that can lead to these high risk activities that could either place them in prison or death. And yes sometimes these role models are emasculated.

I suppose if you believe this article there is a war on men. Masculinity is under attack and there is an attempt to redefine this aspect of manhood. It doesn't matter if the subject are bad men it seems the subject of this so-called toxic masculinity are also gentlemen. Boys want to be men, but they need examples of good men. At an impressionable age they may not get that and perhaps we get some of the issues we have now!