Ben Shapiro Takes Aim at Myth of 'Toxic Masculinity'

As I’ve said before, the concept of “toxic masculinity” in Western society is a myth. It’s a bugaboo feminists use to blame any criminal or otherwise immoral act committed by a man on masculinity as a whole. Of course they offer no evidence to back the assertion, as, simply put, the whole thing doesn’t exist.

That said, it’s a pervasive myth among women on the left. So much so that actress and singer Bette Midler reportedly blamed the London terror attack on men and “religion” — without saying the name of the religion in question.

Ben Shapiro, writing at National Review, took issue with that and some other examples:

Put aside the inanity of lumping together all religion as “worthless” thanks to the acts of radical Islamists, who are devotees of a religion she refuses to mention, presumably out of sheer cowardice. Focus instead on her belief that “men … are worthless.” It’s indicative of a general belief among members of the Left that masculinity itself is toxic and must be quashed.

Hillary Clinton spoke last month at a Planned Parenthood gala where drinks called “toxic masculinity” were served; she explained that men are “doing everything they can to roll back the rights and progress we’ve fought so hard for over the last century.” Men, you see, are the problem. Men make war; men commit crimes; men rape; men infuse their aggression into everything.

Midler and those of like mind are wrong to lump all men together, of course. It was male police officers who arrived to kill the terrorists. It is male soldiers attempting to liberate women from the depravity of ISIS terrorists. Males destroy, but males also build.

But in their effort to eradicate the destructive male tendency, the Left has pushed emasculation as a solution. While they champion the notion that women can do anything they set their minds to (true!), they simultaneously castigate men as the barriers to progress and masculinity as a condition to be avoided.

The goal of the Left, therefore, becomes to train boys not to become men. Instead, boys should be feminized; they should never be encouraged to “be a man.” That’s too pressure-filled, too nasty, too mean.

The reality is that decent people don’t raise their male children to commit terrorist acts. Decent people don’t raise their male children to believe that women are inferior, breeding stock, or anything else except human beings worthy of dignity and respect.

By ascribing a term like “toxic masculinity” to depraved acts, feminists ascribe such acts to some systemic issue that simply doesn’t exist. While three terrorists did commit an atrocity on London Bridge, millions of other men were horrified by it. Many men stepped up and sacrificed their bodies to stop anyone else from being hurt. Take Roy Larner, for instance — the foul-mouthed, sports-obsessed beer drinker who took on all three armed terrorists with just his fists. That is what society teaches young men. That’s masculinity.

Don’t tell me Pajama Boy would have done the same.

Feminists, drop this “toxic masculinity” crap and move on. Or, if you’re going to hold onto it, be brave enough to name the cultures that actually commit these sins, that actually teach violent misogyny, instead of ascribing it to everyone with a penis who likes having one.