“Traditional masculinity seems to be, in this report at least, conflated with being a pig, or a creep, or a Harvey Weinstein kind of person,” intoned Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham.
The guidelines prompted a fierce backlash from the right-wing media, which accused the APA of demonizing men. In August of last year, the American Psychological Association released a document titled “ Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Men and Boys.” While the APA acknowledged that gender roles are largely socially constructed - science still knows very little about how biology affects gender - and masculine norms vary across cultures, “there is a particular constellation of standards that have held sway over large segments of the population, including: anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence.” Thirteen years in the works, the document noted that rigid adherence to this traditional masculine ideology harms men’s mental and physical health, in part by discouraging them from expressing emotion and seeking treatment when they need it.
The pressure to conform to male stereotypes doesn’t just harm gay men it’s bad for all men.
'It puts boys and men in this box that makes it very hard for them to get the help they need.” 'You cannot exist in a world where you’re always armored,' says Wizdom Powell, associate professor of psychiatry at The University of Connecticut.
