If we talk about masculinity, patriarchy, or male privilege, the conversations are immediately derailed by accusations of generalization and prejudice. “Not all men,” rises the ubiquitous cry. It is too simplistic, too offensive, too broad. Yet we raise few such objections when the crimes of a man with brown or black skin are immediately assumed to be related to his race or religion. To speak ill of masculinity—to describe it, in its current societal iteration, as something problematic—is seen as an attack on men themselves. To question why some men behave in certain ways is viewed as an
...more
