Toxic masculinity and machismo always make a comeback during fascist eras because one of fascism's core principles is the dominant group doesn't have to change or be accommodating or even be happy and healthy, that it's entitled to its power and privil...
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Toxic masculinity and machismo always make a comeback during fascist eras because one of fascism's core principles is the dominant group doesn't have to change or be accommodating or even be happy and healthy, that it's entitled to its power and privilege and anyone who says otherwise is the enemy.
Some men will cling to toxic masculinity and its fascist purveyors even as it makes them miserable because they're convinced they'll get what they "deserve" in the end.
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And the thing is, many men are deeply insecure because of toxic masculinity. It foists absurd and absurdly high expectations of power, prowess, etc. on them. Women have always known this, and these men know women know this about them, which makes them feel even more insecure about it.
Unfortunately, belligerence and violence, demonstrations of power and dominance, are the only recourse which toxic masculinity provides to cope with these insecurities.
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Which obviously doesn't endear them to anyone else.
But you can tell these men they don't have to do this, that they're being manipulated and exploited by mostly rich white men who don't care about them, but as long as they're hooked to the power trip of male dominance, they will keep chasing their own tail.
Even if they realize they've wasted half of their life doing this, it becomes a matter of sunk cost. It pushes some of them over the edge.
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There's always some fascist grifter waiting in the wings to tell them this is all "woke" bullshit, women owe them, queer people are "freaks," and everybody should just do what they're told.
