Our society includes people of different religion, creed, gender, economic status, etc all of them having various philosophical beliefs and faiths. The human population has been advancing rapidly in various fields since time immemorial and it still continues to do so. Over the past couple of years many things have transformed. Even though we have adapted to change, there are some grey areas which aren’t talked about enough and they continue to cause damage to our community. I personally feel that people’s mind-set pertaining to certain issues like anti-feminism, patriarchy, untouchability (a concept which was once popular in our country and still exists to some extent unfortunately) and tons of other problems hasn’t changed yet and it’s high time now that these matters are brought up. In a country like India, patriarchy has been glorified for the past uncountable centuries. Therefore, in this blog I have chosen to write about how toxic patriarchy has adversely impacted the lives of people and talk about how heinous of an issue this has been and still continues to be, on the behalf of many suppressed voices.
Now most of you here might be familiar with the term ‘PATRIARCHY’ which by the way means a system of society in which men hold the power and women along with other genders are largely excluded from it. However, some of you might be wondering what ‘TOXIC PATRIARCHY/MASCULINITY’ exactly means! Well to clear that, I would start off by saying that it is a notion that some people’s idea of “manliness” perpetuates domination, homophobia and aggression. It involves cultural pressures for men to behave in a certain way and is likely to affect boys and men in some fashion, besides affecting women. It is often misconstrued that patriarchy has been a dark place for just women. When in actuality, men too are ruthlessly impacted by its consequences. Hence, I would like to sequentially take up this issue which goes as follows:
Since this issue is “famously” prevalent in our country, I would be elaborating about it by being restricted to experiences of the Indian households. The first and the foremost thing which people need to know is that patriarchy encourages male leadership and dominance. Due to this, women are likely to get subjected to economic dependence, violence, domestication and be the peripherals of decision making. This is a serious threat to a woman’s character and identity. In the history of India, we’ve majorly witnessed the role of a king as the protector and ruler of the kingdom. As against this, the women (despite being called as the queen) did not really have a significant role in the administration and other affairs of the kingdom. Instead, they were restricted to perform household duties and other family rituals. If this was the case with women of higher status, we could only imagine the status of women in the households of common people. In fact, the inheritance of property by women was also considered to be a taboo in the olden days. You might probably be wondering that all of this was a concern in the past and that in the present times, there has been a remarkable change in this pattern due to noteworthy urbanization and revolution. Yes, I would agree with you on that though not completely. According to a survey conducted in 2022, it has been observed that urban Indian housewives constitute around 88% of the women population in India. Now, that’s a huge number, isn’t it? More frequently than not, women are expected to take care of the household chores and are collectively excluded from political, social and economic positions in the society. This male-dominated situation is a direct effect of the patriarchal system. Toxic patriarchy contributes to a culture that tolerates and normalizes violence, sexual harassment and other forms of abuse disproportionately affecting women due to power imbalances and this needs to be forbidden immediately.
Now, coming to the consequences of toxic patriarchy on men. One might ponder that this whole concept of “male domination” won’t have any adverse impact on the men and the boys of the society. However, let me tell you that they too have been and still are a prime target of this toxic culture. The need to “man up” and put on a brave show just because of a mere reason that they are a male appears balderdash to me. Right from childhood, boys are taught to be intrepid and valorous. You might have often heard this phrase being said to a boy- “Man up, don’t cry like a girl”. Such comments being made right from when they are young deliberately pushes boys into thinking that expressing normal human emotions is a sin. Not only that, it also stereotypes girls to be weaker (physically and emotionally) than boys. This “man up” attitude matures into a rejection of empathy towards others and repackages nurturing impulses as “weak”. Toxic masculinity opposes mental and physical health treatment even when injured or emotionally struggling. It is an endless pressure for men to conform to a narrow prescription of masculinity, to compete with one another and hence to prove their manhood by surrendering their individuality as well as denying their humanity.
Thus, we saw how even men who seem to be oppressive and chauvinistic may be the victims of patriarchal pressures. Therefore, this needs our immediate attention and adequate action. We ought to smash the patriarchal culture in whatever way possible. For instance, if people start acknowledging gender neutrality as well as gender equality, the world would be a better place to live in. The unwanted extravagant “manly” standards being set by the society for men to follow should be squashed. A feminist approach should be adopted by people wherein individuals of all genders are respected and given an equal position in the society. I would like to conclude by saying that though underdeveloped and developing countries see this issue majorly, the entire world is suffering silently in some or the other way due to the consequences of “TOXIC PATRIARCHY”. Hence, I urge everyone to speak up against this detestable matter and create a community where people can dwell in tranquillity and harmony!
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