On toxic masculinity 

Nerdbajetikanba? 

This first one is for all of you of course but mostly for the men since they are the ones who desperately nerd to hear this. I have some good close male friends. I am fortunate in this way and I hope you are too. And one day I was hurting inside and I needed a friend a male friend to talk to. So I reached out to one of my good friends and asked. Can we have some time together this weekend? I have a story to share and I could use a friendly ear. This friend of mine is a very busy person but he immediately responded wen? Where? He said it would be his number 1 priority the following day and we scheduled a walk in the woods away from all others where we could have true privacy.  

When we met in the woods I started like this. I have reached out to you because you are my close friend and I believe you will keep what I have to say in confidence. Dude I’m a lawyer, he said as you can imagine I’m use to keeping things confidential. Good I said. And before we begin I said this. there is a common narrative in society as a whole that men do not emote man to man. That when we get together we only talk about sports and tits. I would contend that this is untrue. He agreed completely. In fact it is a poisonous misconception about men that has brought us nothing but harm. Men feel. We hurt not only on the inside but on the outside too. It doesent matter our color or our sexual orientation. And we share our feelings with other men. Not only when we are drunk but other times too. There are things that you will need to share with another man for their advice, for their council and for their ear. It will be helpful to know who you can trust and reach out to. Do this don’t be afraid to express, to rage, to cry when you need to. The common narrative that men are stoic and do not emote to other men is at the very core of toxic masculinity and it needs to go now. When you need the ear of a male friend don’t be afraid to reach out and admit your vulnerability you will be surprised by what one male friend will do for another. Take this leap of faith and you will be rewarded as I was. Ok youlkamikanangu.