Relationship Between Hegemonic Masculinity and Toxic Masculinity

The Relationship between Hegemonic Masculinity and Toxic Masculinity
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The Relationship between Hegemonic Masculinity and Toxic Masculinity
Gender and feminism studies often seem to include the theme of masculinity in their discussions. In its common usage, masculinity often refers to a social value regulating how men should and should not behave. In this case, masculinity is often associated with ‘maleness’ or the features and conduct that define the ideal man. However, other terms are often used alongside masculinity, including hegemonic and toxic masculinity. These terms usually involve the portrayal of men concerning women. More precisely, they involve the treatment of women as the inferior gender and explain the violence and sexism displayed by some men.
Toxic masculinity is a relatively new concept that scholars have yet to define conceptually. While some argue that it should not be adopted as an analytical concept, it is essential to acknowledge and clarify its usage. The rationale is that toxic masculinity is often used whenever a man raises his voice, adopts a foreboding posture, occupies more space in public transport, or even posts abusive remarks on social media. Many of such ills are also associated with hegemonic masculinity, which necessitates an examination of the relationship between the two terms. In this case, it is easier to perceive toxic masculinity as those aspects of hegemonic masculinity that are socially destructive.
Defining Toxic Masculinity
Several descriptions of the term' toxic masculinity' have been provided, but a formal definition still lacks. According to Harrington (2021), men's movements coined toxic masculinity in the 20th century. However, feminists have been associating toxic masculinity with homophobia, misogyny, and male violence since 2013. Toxic masculinity describes behavioral responses to the internalized normative gender concepts that dictate a man's gendered sense of being and self in various harmful ways (Markou, 2019). In other words, the toxicity does not lie with the masculinity. Instead, it lies with the reactions to their perceived ideas about gender that manifests through behaviors and preferences. Such a description also infers that toxic masculinity is the collision between dominant gender concepts that are themselves toxic and the consequent maladaptive or toxic thoughts and behaviors (Markou, 2019). Therefore, it appears that the term has often been misused since some of the aspects that people associate with toxic masculinity are indeed part of hegemonic masculinity, as will be outlined earlier.
The term toxic masculinity has often been absent in scholarly work. However, the mainstream and new media have been the main spheres where discussions of toxic masculinity have appeared. A genuine scholarly effort to define the term can be found in a recent study on intervening in bullying cases. In this case, the term toxic masculinity was defined as “the constellation of socially regressive [masculine] traits that serve to foster domination, the devaluation of women, homophobia, and wanton violence” (Ingram et al., 2019, p. 140). Such a definition differs from the above ideas that...