For thousands and thousands of years, masculine ideals and traits have helped men reach the two fundamental objectives in the evolutionary game of life - surviving and reproducing. Traits that are attractive to the opposite sex have always been titled as ‘masculine’ and aided males in finding mates. Originally, masculine traits were simply just a number of traits that attracted females. But now, things have changed drastically. In the past few centuries, multiple harmful ideals about men were constructed around the world, corrupting the reputation of masculinity. And now, it has become a serious problem we’ve got to address.

Toxic masculinity praises violence, rape culture, misogyny, homophobia, suppression of emotions, and shames men who seek help. Masculinity becomes ‘toxic’ when it refuses to show any traits seemingly viewed stereotypically as feminine. This kind of masculinity seriously harms many, whether it’s our environment, women, young children, or men themselves.

“Man up”, “boys don’t cry”, “be a real man”. These are phrases used so commonly, so nonchalantly. It is these type of toxic phrases that suppress children and young adolescents from expressing their emotions. One study that used sample of 280 middle-schoolers in the U.S., found that boys began start to change themselves to fit into masculine ideals near the start of sixth grade in middle school. Middle school is a critical point of psychological and physical development. Exposure to toxic masculine ideals has proven to relate to depression and dysfunctional social behaviors. Niobe Way, a professor of Developmental Psychology at NYU, stated that right around the time boys reach the age of 15 and start to suppress their emotions, suicide becomes fives times more likely than girls. Masculine ideals are affecting children and teens negatively around the globe.

But it’s not only this. Toxic masculinity harms women, too. Dennis E. Reidy, who works for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta, conducted a study surveying the relationship between “masculine discrepancy stress” and emotional or physical violence towards partners of 600 men. Masculine discrepancy stress is defined as, “a form of stress arising from perceived failure to conform to socially-prescribed masculine gender role norms”. The study found that higher masculine discrepancy stress resulted in the men being much more controlling and abusive towards their female partners.

As astonishing as this might sound, masculinity has a negative effect on our environment, too. A study conducted in Scientific American examining the behavior of more than 2,000 American and Chinese participants, revealed that men judged eco-friendly products and behaviors as ‘feminine’. The study found that men bought less eco-friendly products than women because they felt ‘unmanly’. Men “tend to want to feel macho, and they worry that eco-friendly behaviors might brand them as feminine," the study states.

Nevertheless, the negative effects of masculinity on men themselves are hard to miss. Indiana University Bloomington analyzed the results of 78 studies of 20,000 participants and studied how conforming to ‘toxic' masculinity affected mental health in men. Behavioral traits such as homophobia, self-reliance, sexual promiscuity, power over women, and risk-taking were studied. The study showed that sexual promiscuity, self-reliance, and power over women had the most correlation to bad mental health. The study's lead author Joel Wong says the results weren’t necessarily shocking. "It supports and confirms research done in the last 60 years that people who conform to masculinity have poor mental health,” Wong said (Hagi). Numerous researches have proved that men who embrace toxic masculinity experience higher chances of depression, alcoholism, rage disorders, criminal behavior, suicide, and other damaging behaviour.

Despite what the research says, some might still disagree, saying that I am just trying to stigmatize and villainize men through masculinity. To clarify, the meaning of "masculinity" in this context does not refer to mens’ innate traits, but rather what society defines as a “real man”.

According to Article 3 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” And unless we make a change, the change will not happen. Men and boys should not have to live their lives under oppression, striving for ideals that will only harm them in return. Now is the time for us teens and young adults, the generation Z, to redefine masculinity and make a change. Remember, “a healthy masculinity or femininity is one you get to define — or not identify with at all, because it doesn't have to mean anything to you if you don't want it to”.