Psychologists lashed over claim traditional masculinity ‘harms men’

The world’s largest professional body for psychologists is accused of launching a war against men after it denounced traditional masculinity.

Traditional masculinity is harmful, the APA has decided. Picture: iStock.

The world’s largest professional body for psychologists has been accused of launching a war against men after it denounced traditional masculinity as psychologically harmful.

The American Psychological Association (APA) faced a backlash after it published a study which argued that men were being damaged by what has been labelled “toxic” masculinity.

Guidelines defined traditional masculinity as “a particular constellation of standards … including anti-femininity, achievement, eschewal of the appearance of weakness, and adventure, risk, and violence”. This was linked to higher rates of suicide, drug abuse and violence, it said. It was even associated with men eating fewer vegetables.

“Traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful, and [encouraging] boys to suppress their emotions causes damage,” it said. “Traditional masculinity — marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression — is, on the whole, harmful.”

Frank Furedi, a professor at Kent University, said the findings were part of “an ideologically informed campaign against masculinity in general”. He added: “The words toxic and masculinity are casually put together in a way that would be beyond thinkable if you were to talk about ‘toxic femininity’.”

In America the guidelines riled conservative pundits. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News presenter, said: “Traditional masculinity seems to be conflated with being a pig or a creep or a Harvey Weinstein kind of person”.

Jared Skillings, chief of professional practice at the APA, said: “We’re talking about negative traits such as violence or over-competitiveness or being unwilling to admit weakness. Of course masculinity also has positive traits: courage, leadership, protectiveness. The report includes both sides.”

The APA noted that although men reported less depression than women, they were more than three times as likely to die by suicide.

The Times