A couple of months ago, I was listening to the “Another Round” podcast with Stacy-Marie Ishmael and Tracy Clayton. On this particular episode their featured guest was Tiq Milan, a trans man and advocate for the LGBT community. And towards the end of the podcast the ladies asked Tiq what did he want people to know about masculinity. And he said masculinity is so fragile. I gave the comment an emphatic “umph” and have thought about it quite a bit since that day. I’ve always had my suspicions but that clear and succinct phrase clarified what I had long since witnessed.
This morning Ebony editor and cultural critic Jamilah Lemieux asked women if they had ever been yelled at by a man after she rejected their advances. She hashtagged it, #MasculinitySoFragile. Being as this is such a common experience, the responses came pouring in. Check out some of the responses, including some of the wayward men who felt attacked…thereby proving the very point of the hashtag.
Many of us have this story. But it’s not the only example of the fragility of Masculinity, check out some others, some comical, some tragic and others threatening.
There were clearly those who didn’t get it…and subsequently ended up playing into the very need for the hashtag to begin with.
https://twitter.com/Julia_ATC/status/646672997571514368
(She was being cheeky. Sadly, these weren’t an attempt at satire at all. Just really ignorant, long held beliefs.)
https://twitter.com/MeGP216/status/646688123683008512
No, actually it’s not. There are several women who have lost their lives for politely rejecting a man.
