Evan Urquhart

Men should generally worry less about being perceived as sexist, and more about supporting efforts to break down and ultimately bring an end to sexism.

I think about my masculinity like I do about my favorite color, yellow. I dunno if I was born predisposed towards yellow or subtle social forces steered me towards yellow, but I'm sure I like yellow. I don't, however, think there's anything wrong with liking red, blue, or pink.

I don't see any point in pretending to like pink (or pretending to like blue), but I do try to be vocal in my support of people who like pink, because they seem to get a lot more shit.

It is harder to have this attitude of "I like what I like but it's not better than what someone else likes" about masculinity, bc of all the cultural shit I've been talking about. But, it's necessary to try, bc not being masculine, or not being a man, would be untrue to myself.

Great thread. Got to ponder when liking what I like is just that versus when it is masculinity. I'm interested in positive masculinity, but the strong focus on testosterone in part 2 threw me a bit.

I've been assuming positive masculinity is in part persuading people that a wider variety of positive behaviors should be thought of as masculine, but you are right the patriarchy part makes it risky to build associations too. (first time reader here)

I think a better start is 1. Not restricting masculinity to men, instead throwing our arms open and welcome women and others in. and 2. Not minding or feeling embarrassed when something isn't masculine. Not trying to wedge things into masculinity that don't belong.

Pretty much everyone is going to be some blend of masc, femme, and neutral. I think you can revel in a masc part of yourself more safely if you're also finding joy & strength in the parts that aren't masc.