Catherine

Almost four decades on, Top Gun: Maverick is a brilliant celebration of modern masculinity. In this movie, men are men – and no one is apologizing for it.

Too often we have heard of cases on the news where a young, Black male has been assumed to be guilty of something, only for it to transpire later that he was innocent.

If the Depp vs. Heard trial is showing us anything thus far, it’s that men and women can be equal in many things; including being the victims of abuse. 

It’s part of our natural behavior to experience and express an array of emotions, not just one.

There are people who remain “unconscious” to the sexist stereotypes often perpetuated by women – especially feminists – towards men. 

These shifts between men and womens’ roles has actually created opportunities for men to create their own definition of success and to break away from society’s draconian definition of what being a “successful man” looks like. 

All of the evidence is signaling loud and clear that it’s time for systemic changes within the foundations of mental health treatment for men. 

Men are in effect punished and put down for the same exact emotional characteristics that girls and women are now applauded for.

I can’t help but feel as if journalists and feminists are using this incident as more fuel for their fire to crucify men upon the proverbial cross of “toxic masculinity”.

It appears to me that the term “toxic masculinity” has evolved purely out of society’s misunderstanding of men and masculinity in general.