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Journal 3 COLLAPSE As a man, I was very interested in hearing about Therouxs perspective on being a man in his essay, The Male Myth. I will admit, this was difficult for me to read without feeling attacked in some way. I read this essay to keep an open mind about ones perspective on masculinity today and if there are common arguments that I might also agree with.

Theroux dives in with the words, I have always disliked being a man. The phrase, be a man! to Theroux is an insulting one. A phrase that expresses an obedient, soldierly attitude towards life. An attitude that is often lacking emotion and celebrates the exclusive company of men. The author continues his disdain by attributing high school athletics to the grooming of toxic masculinity. Just as high-school basketball teaches you how to be a poor loser, the manly attitude toward sports seems to be little more than a recipe for creating bad marriages, social misfits, moral degenerates, sadists, latent rapists, and just plain louts.

Ill admit, after reading that last one, I started to have my doubts about finding common ground with Theroux. While I agree with Paul that toxic masculinity is naturally destructive and socially harmful, I do not attribute athletics being a root cause of dastardly manliness. I believe the real culprit is the projected image of what it means to be a man today in society through the various media outlets we indulge ourselves with daily, especially social media. I played varsity sports in high school, including football every Friday night. I even went on to play in college for a time. Maybe I was lucky enough to participate in programs that taught the values that really mattered. Values that were deeply rooted in respecting others, being held accountable and responsible for ones actions, being compassionate and showing passion, and above all being honest in everything that you do.

I absolutely disagree with the notion that athletics are the root cause for toxic masculinity or for creating bad marriages, full of moral degenerates and rapists. I am happily married and have held myself to a high standard because of the sports that I played growing up and the values they taught me to be a positive, contributing individual in the community.