The saying goes that “money is the root of all evil.” Nah, it’s something far more elemental and insidious. Machismo—the desire to conform to and display a very narrow definition of manliness that is aggressive, intimidating, uncompromising, and domineering—is the root of all evil.
Also known as “toxic masculinity,” machismo is essentially a zero-sum
assertion of power in which men compete with one another to out-man the
other, “pull rank” over women, and equate femininity with frailness. Fueled by testosterone, petroleum, gunpowder, and Punisher stickers on too-big trucks, an individual’s demonstration of manliness is usually at the expense of others.
Now, some claim that from an evolutionary standpoint, males are
programmed to display masculinity to attract female attention and bless the future with our glorious genes. Yet among humans, attracting females is often not the ultimate objective of such performance, but rather a means to the end of earning other men’s approval and admiration.
Wars have been initiated by male leaders who jockey for alphahood with
tough talk and unyielding stances. One determining factor in our recent election was a desire for a hypermasculine strongman to bully the country into submission. So it’s très ironic that the chosen dude incessantly whines and pouts like a toddler.
Another irony is that a slang term for one of the strongest and most
resilient muscles in the human body is used to ridicule men for their perceived weakness. But fellas, our corresponding equipment is far more delicate and fragile—with egos to match.
I’m Taylor Atkins and that’s my perspective.
