Blaming men for the woes of the world is wrong and dangerous
WELL, it’s been a milestone week for men, hasn’t it? And not in a good way.
First, the influential American Psychological Association (APA) announced that just being a man is to blame for many of the world’s woes.
In a new study, which provides guidelines for members, the APA argues that ‘traditional masculinity’ is responsible for, well, pretty much everything: from violence and higher rates of suicide to drug abuse, risk-taking, a reluctance to seek help for problems, even for the fact that men eat fewer vegetables!
‘Traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful, and [encouraging] boys to suppress their emotions causes damage,’ the study concluded. ‘Traditional masculinity — marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression — is, on the whole, harmful.’
It’s been described by critics as a ‘declaration of war on men’, and it is hard to disagree.
Next up was the new Gillette advertising campaign — directed by a woman — which, inspired by the #MeToo movement, takes a stand against ‘ toxic masculinity’. It, too, is another assault on men, portraying us all as inherently sexist boors. Just imagine if a man had come up with ads that depicted women in such a negative way? Of course, no one would dare.
Gillette may live to regret its new advert. The company is already facing a backlash, with some men saying they will boycott its products.
The APA guidelines, which will inform psychological counselling internationally, may have a more profound and damaging impact.
In my view, they are likely to discourage men from seeking counselling in the first place. Who wants to hear that your problems are all your own fault?
When it comes to health, there is certainly inequality between men and women. Men have higher rates of suicide and lower life expectancies than women. On average, men die more than three years earlier than women.
If it was the other way around — if women were at a similar disadvantage — I have no doubt it would be used as evidence of widespread misogyny in society and lead to demands for special support for women.
YET, because it’s men, they are now to be advised that they are architects of their own fate. The APA study is, I believe, politically motivated; it’s not based on an objective scientific approach.
Indeed, the new guidelines state that social forces play an overwhelming role in gender differences, despite the evidence from psychology and neuroscience that many male characteristics are biologically determined.
It is an illustration of how psychology — a predominantly female profession — seems happy to ignore facts when it doesn’t suit a particular ideology.
It is part of a new and alarming trend that ignores — or flatly denies — any biological differences between the sexes, arguing instead that such differences are a ‘social construct’.
Telling a man he should feel bad about his masculinity and the traits it confers is offensive, controlling and sinister. It is yet more evidence of growing misandry — the dislike of or contempt for men.
Who is to say how I, as a man, should or should not behave? And why are we ignoring the great positives of masculinity; courage, leadership, strength and protectiveness. Yet this is precisely what the growing ‘anti-man’ movement wants society to do. All men are bad, so let’s try to control them and dictate how they should and shouldn’t behave.
While I welcome the idea that men shouldn’t feel the need to behave in a certain way or conform to social expectations unless they choose to, this must include the freedom to be masculine.
This is important, and the APA guidelines must be challenged.
The most desperate of my patients — the most lost and hopeless and in need of help — are young men. It is they who are lacking purpose in their lives, who too often turn to drugs and crime, or try to kill themselves.
We are facing a crisis in meeting the needs of this vulnerable group. Preaching the credo of ‘ toxic masculinity’ is no help at all.