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NBC: American Psychological Association links 'masculinity ideology' to homophobia, misogyny

Tracygill

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna956416

For the first time in its 127-year history, the American Psychological Association has issued guidelines to help psychologists specifically address the issues of men and boys — and the 36-page document features a warning.

"Traditional masculinity ideology has been shown to limit males' psychological development, constrain their behavior, result in gender role strain and gender role conflict and negatively influence mental health and physical health," the report warns.

The new "Guidelines for the Psychological Practice with Boys and Men" defines "masculinity ideology" as "a particular constellation of standards that have held sway over large segments of the population, including: anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence." The report also links this ideology to homophobia, bullying and sexual harassment.
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Elizabeth May
@_ElizabethMay
I know a lot of people's first instinct is to say "well, yeah", but the APA also created a guideline for the ways in which toxic masculinity affects the mental health of men & how clinicians should address it. This is a development a lot of us have been working toward for years.
 
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Micolash

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aDY8ITy.gif
 
B-Dubs

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Oct 25, 2017
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This isn't exactly news. Adolescent psychologists have been talking about this kinda stuff for a few decades now. I suppose it's good there's now guidelines to try and help fight it.
 
Uzuki

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I know it's easy for us to go "yeah, no shit", but for the average person this would be new information for them. The toxic parts of masculinity are entrenched deep into society and any break away from it will label you as weak or "not a real man" and can affect you in various parts of your life.
 
Bakercat

Bakercat

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Oct 27, 2017
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Just got my bachelors in psychology and applying for graduate school; yeah, this is pretty much accurate. Surprised a little they took a more sociological approach to this. Its honestly needed though.
 
Parch

Parch

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Nov 6, 2017
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"Guidelines for the Psychological Practice with Boys and Men"

Recommendations... Grow the fuck up already.
Unfortunately, some men never grow up.
 
Thordinson

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Aug 1, 2018
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Yup. I saw this when it was announced and I'm glad the APA have actually guidelines to deal with toxic masculinity.
 
samoyed

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Oct 26, 2017
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Oh good I'll just pull this up the next time someone says toxic masculinity isn't a real thing.
 
Joe

Joe

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Nice. Glad to see the APA is putting together guidelines to help men and boys with these issues.

Anyway, headline from a few years from now, the Alt-Right joins teams with the Church of Scientology!
 
Kirbivore

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Uzuki said:
I know it's easy for us to go "yeah, no shit", but for the average person this would be new information for them. The toxic parts of masculinity are entrenched deep into society and any break away from it will label you as weak or "not a real man" and can affect you in various parts of your life.
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Like how journalists mocked HW Bush for being a wimp and he went on to commit war crimes he was never charged for and destabilized the middle east
 
Doober

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Jun 10, 2018
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Uzuki said:
I know it's easy for us to go "yeah, no shit", but for the average person this would be new information for them. The toxic parts of masculinity are entrenched deep into society and any break away from it will label you as weak or "not a real man" and can affect you in various parts of your life.
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Right? Here in the south this will be another thing we'll fight to the bitter end against. Even women down here buy into toxic bullshit.
 

Avinash117

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Oct 25, 2017
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I can see that toxic masculinity still affects young boys. I see that the insult that is used against gay men is said by kids and femininity is still seen as a weakness for men.
 
Catshade

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APA is already seen as 'political' decades ago when they took out LGBT as a psychological disorder from the diagnostics manual.
 
Handicapped Duck

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Biggest "no shit" I've read. Though I do understand the difficulty with getting men to accept that some of their behavior is toxic.
 

Deleted member 20603

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Avinash117 said:
I can see that toxic masculinity still affects young boys. I see that the insult that is used against gay men is said by kids and femininity is still seen as a weakness for men.
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I don't understand why they try to spread the ideology to others. If the idea is to be the most masculine man in your peer group, wouldn't you support homosexuality and/or femininity among other men?

By using peer pressure to influence other men to be more masculine, you needlessly create more competition for yourself. That is what I don't understand about masculinity. If you want to be more masculine, yet you influence others to do the same, the outcome is that you didn't gain any "advantage" relative to others.
 
DoubleTake

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Glad to see its actually down on paper and "official". This shit has been obvious for years to anyone that pays any bit of attention.
 
Nepenthe

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The most interesting thing about the article is the fact that the APA drew up guidelines to fight toxic masculinity from the angle of mental health. That's a very good first step.
 

Avinash117

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Oct 25, 2017
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incognito said:
I don't understand why they try to spread the ideology to others. If the idea is to be the most masculine man in your peer group, wouldn't you support homosexuality and/or femininity among other men?

By using peer pressure to influence other men to be more masculine, you needlessly create more competition for yourself. That is what I don't understand about masculinity. If you want to be more masculine, yet you influence others to do the same, the outcome is that you didn't gain any "advantage" relative to others.
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What you are describing isn't something inherent with masculinity, but it is the nature of in-group relationships. I think you are pressuring others to be more like yourself( or whatever is considered to be the superior image) so that you aren't different from others in the end, if that makes sense. Reaching the ranks of what is considered to be the superior group, is what matters. I don't think people are that worried about other people they more worried about what they want. People aren't that devious to each other in that particular way either.

Additionally, when people are threatened by a presence of an individual that has a particular behavior( or perceived to have) that is not supposed to be acceptable, they will lash out. It has nothing to do with your feelings, but your very existence threatens their worldview and makes them feel insecure. A transgender woman threatens the worldview of what gender and sex 'supposed' to be. A feminine man threatens the idea of what a man supposed to be and can threaten what the idea of what femininity supposed to be. Sure conservatives may respect the fact that a transgender woman is a human being, but they will never accept the fact that person is a woman or accept the definition of what a transgender person is. Feminine men and homosexual men in their view threatens their view of what masculinity is. Unfortunately, society has similar views.


Don't know if the paper dives deep into your topic, but it might speak of it in some way.
https://www.apa.org/about/policy/boys-men-practice-guidelines.pdf
 
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WarLox

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Oct 30, 2017
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There is a lot to be said about how women respond to the masculinity in men, and how that response drives to many behaviors.
 
Chindogg

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This obviously has been known for a while, but do they recommend any next steps in treating/changing this mentality? Is it something that can be treated now, or is it just a societal thing that needs to be changed on a macro level?
 
TinfoilHatsROn

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Doober said:
Right? Here in the south this will be another thing we'll fight to the bitter end against. Even women down here buy into toxic bullshit.
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Seriously. Y'all don't know how fucked some people's thinking are down here. And I lived in more 'progressive' parts of my garbage state.

But all in the name to preserve masculinity and 'southern pride'.

This is still an important step in teaching the next generation that this shit is real, toxic, and harmful.
 
Doober

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TinfoilHatsROn said:
Seriously. Y'all don't know how fucked some people's thinking are down here. And I lived in more 'progressive' parts of my garbage state.

But all in the name to preserve masculinity and 'southern pride'.

This is still an important step in teaching the next generation that this shit is real, toxic, and harmful.
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Yep. On Facebook I hear "men don't act like men anymore," from women, or even "I'm more manly than most men." They want the machismo.
 
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