Want to revert back to times when fainting spells are mere "female problems", homosexuality is a disease, and gender nonconformity is taboo? No? Then stop grossly misusing the idea of toxic masculinity. Granted, conversion therapy still exists today, especially in some religious circles, and that doesn't even account for people who try to pray the gay out of themselves and their loved ones without the aid of a formal practice. Pathologizing gender differences and dismissing legitimate health issues as gender things are two sides of the same coin and neither will help anyone.
Blaming school shootings on toxic masculinity manages to do both of these things at once by making masculinity out to be an illness and blaming depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses on the existence of masculinity. Shaming boys for being boys will only make things worse and make society turn a blind eye towards the concept of toxic femininity. This is not discussed very often because women are the Oppressed Class™, but all the same, it is worth commenting on. Some people even claim that it is impossible for toxic femininity to exist, but anyone who has been around women knows that this is simply not true.
To say that women cannot hurt others or drag them down is an insult to their power. Using yin/yang theory, masculinity is associated with brightness, activity, and warmth while femininity is associated with darkness, passivity, and coldness. An excess of masculinity creates a hot, blind rage directed at others while an excess of femininity creates a deep pit of depression. However, this theory falls short as toxic femininity can be directed outwards, just in a different way than toxic masculinity. Refer to the iconic teen comedy Mean Girls to see a prime example of toxic femininity directed outwards.
Regina George is the archetypal high school queen bee character, but, with the characterization, she could very well be a real person. Chances are, you've run into a "Regina" in the course of your lifetime. At 0:35, Regina can be seen (mostly) standing over the chaos looking satisfied by the chaos she created. Women are more calculated and secretive in their attacks and this is exactly what happens after all that gossiping, backstabbing, and stealth scouting. In other words, to fight feminine is essentially to be a ninja in the historically accurate sense of the term. Ninjas (shinobi) dressed as farmers, watched battles, reported to their masters, and then the opposing party's men all fell.
Yes, I believe that toxic masculinity exists. However, the "all masculinity is bad" view of things is far from accurate and is actually one of the graver insults to femininity and to women. By suggesting that femininity cannot be toxic, it suggests that femininity has no power as the inability to abuse power only comes from having none or from perfectly adhering to humanly impossible moral standards. At the end of the day, people are people and people have character flaws that hurt other people. We just do it differently.
By the way, please upvote, resteem, and comment! It'll be fetch.
Sources and Photos:
DOA 5/3/17
https://www.wsj.com/articles/conversion-therapy-isnt-the-cure-for-toxic-masculinity-1527890166
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/talk-about-toxic-femininity-chwm/
http://www.unmissablejapan.com/etcetera/ninja