The patriarchal plague hasn’t only affected women, as many people assume because of the strong feminist movement in the past few decades. Men have been hurt by the patriarchy more than anyone would like to talk about.
The biggest byproduct of the patriarchy against men is hyper-masculinity.
The hyper-masculine man is taught from a young age that his place is to be strong, emotionless and constantly in control. No one is allowed to cross him, and if they do, he’ll make sure they don’t ever again. This is a scary thought. In “The Will To Change”, Bell Hooks writes,
“Patriarchy is a political system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.”
This sounds familiar, the man that cannot show weakness and must assert dominance; domineering behavior has been practiced throughout history all over the world by men in too many ways to count. Kings, warriors, pride and war all are proofs of this.
Hyper-masculinity takes its shape in many forms throughout a man’s life. It is teaching young boys that they must play with violent games instead of dolls, it is forcing the colors of blue and camouflage into every nook and cranny of their being, it is telling them that boys don’t cry, that they cannot express emotion or pain. This is just the beginning.
This beast that is hyper-masculinity continues on from childhood, tearing the now adolescents to shreds. Upper-level education is now a competition. Who is the bulkiest, toughest man on the field? Who has the prettiest, most compliant girl by his side? Which man will be left standing, the most successful at the end of this time?
It can take a turn for the darker. Men start to feel entitled to whatever they want. Please know that this is not their fault, this is the patriarchy, the hyper-masculinity they are brainwashed into believing for their entire lives. They feel entitled to taking what they want; women, sex, money. This is harmful to others now, not only detrimental to the man and his own self. It is promoted in every aspect: television, advertisements, films and books. All facets of media promote the patriarchy and hyper-masculinity, it has to be a conscious decision to wake up from it.
