The likes of Andrew Tate want to return to an imagined idyll in gender relations. It would be a disaster for everyone
Can we think a bit more deeply about masculinity? Toxic masculinity has a certain usefulness and punch as a phrase. It expresses what some men put out into the world but it doesn’t address the whys deeply enough.
Until recently, and still to this day in many parts of the world, men were raised to be protectors: fighters and economic providers. Conscription – men being trained to kill – only ended in Britain in 1960. Women, meanwhile, were being raised to be nurturers and carers – to be midwives to their needs, to support their initiatives, whether or not the women worked also outside the home. Men were to be receivers of emotional support, women to be receivers of economic support and “protection”.
Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and social critic. She is the author of many books including What Do Women Want? – co-authored with Luise Eichenbaum
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