You must log in or register to comment.
Thanks for sharing this. Patriarchy damages men, they’re expected to hide their feelings, “man up” and crush emotions inside. It really hurts men and it’s totally wrong
A male friend of mine who confides in me was complaining to me about how there are these ‘feminists’ talking about ‘toxic masculinity.’ Apparently he viewed some video where a guy was intentionally conflating masculinity with toxic masculinity. I didn’t know that at the time, I was just shocked, because he’s the biggest victim of toxic masculinity I know. When I said that, he asked me to explain, and I pointed to the fact that his father burned his sketchbooks (this was the 70s) because art is “for girls.” Which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
When I explained that toxic masculinity is that, the emphasis to conform to some harmful version of masculinity, he turned on a dime so fast in rage at the asshole who conflated the two.
The thing that hurts my feelings most is when men are taught to forward toxic masculinity that harms them. When they’re forged into links in a chain that they would never wield if they knew better.
It sure is sad.
I got to say what grinds my gears more than it should is that some people in their fight against mysogyny and patriarchy are really mindless in their wording. Just today when i browsed reddit (my bad i know) i came across a thread that rightfully was upset about bigoted gay men and someone wrote “being gay does not stop some men from being… you know men. Toxic and Misogynistic.” And i just felt getting upset and was wondering if it is really so hard to write “Some men, even when gay, still are toxic and mysogonistic”, which is probably what they wanted to say anyways. I think that this can push away some men that already feel dismissed or are struggling.
I completely agree! Words have power!
If I see that sort of thing, I try and correct it. Gently. It never feels good when you get hit with a generalization meant for someone else, but especially when you dislike that generalization, too.
I still argue, especially when my ADHD meds wear off, and my impulse control goes out the window, but we can all at least try to be better to one another.
I’m always surprised to see people defending that kind of language, I’ve generally got a positive response explaining why it’s hurtful, but why try to divide us? I hate that women have to deal with these weirdos too, why am I being grouped with them when I’m only trying to help?
Because feminism is the movement for women. It’s literally in the name. But feminism isn’t a concrete philosophy - it is a “big tent” of ideas. It’s a vibe. Anything can be feminism as long as it feels like feminism. And what feels like feminism? Whatever the people who make up feminists think - ie, whatever women think.
Feminism, as a movement, is a tribe. It is vast and diverse in its members and philosophies, but all identify as feminists. And the golden rule of all tribes is that you must support your compatriots in the face of outsiders. So while some feminists may find the above statement distasteful, and more may believe there is more nuance to be had, few will out and out condemn it on a public forum where non-feminists are included in the discussion. And there are always a few who will defend it as “just venting” or “according to statistics…”
The “all men are trash” narrative is quite common among women. In particular, among women who are experiencing frustration or pain from men. Some of this pain is very real and traumatic. Some of it is run of the mill breakup drama. And most women, at some point in their lives, have probably thought “all men are trash”, because they were feeling down or hurt or frustrated. And thus, the narrative is quite common/empathetic to most feminists. As a “big tent” and a “safe space to vent”, it is therefore allowed as a legitimate feminist narrative, even if it violates most rational feminist philosophy about egalitarianism.
I think this is a real good explanation, thanks. I hope it will help me to cope when i next time come across a bad generalization. Tbh i shouldn’t even feel bad but my sister is also doing this and gets very upset when i point it out.
I mean, I wouldn’t cope so much as change your beliefs and behaviors. These generalizations are wrong and bad (at least from my perspective) and should be challenged when you encounter them.
Feminism is many things, but it is not the singular manifestation of objective goodness. It is just an amorphous collection of people who share the same identity. There is nothing wrong with this, and this amorphous blob has done a lot of good in the world, but it doesn’t mean that the blob is beyond critique. So when it deserves critique, critique it.
Also, if you are a man and self identify as a feminist… I would reevaluate and stop identifying as a feminist. There are whole feminist truisms about how men/straights/white people/cis people need to shut up and listen. Certainly there is a lot to be learned from listening. But at the same time, the shut up part is telling - the reality is, as a man, you will always be a second class citizen in feminist circles. Your opinions will always carry less weight. You will always be seen as less trustworthy or less competent. You will be excluded from gatherings, conversations, and inner circles because of something you cannot change about yourself. Since feminism is the women’s movement, we can understand why this would be the case much of the time. But simultaneously, it is difficult to square this with having a positive self-image. Do you really want to identify with a group where your contributions always have less worth, and where you will never be a member in full standing?
Saying you don’t identify as a feminist is like saying you don’t identify as a tennis player. Sure, you play tennis occasionally for fun, but you aren’t going to make tennis the most important thing in your life. Sometimes you won’t get invited to the parties the real tennis players go to, and that is okay, because playing tennis is not a significant part of your identity. For others, it is, and that is okay too. And you shouldn’t feel bad if the people at the tennis parties say you don’t play enough tennis - those people are just dicks.
IMO it goes further than this. It’s not just poor wording. It is actually implying toxicity is the solution to patriarchy. Allow me to explain if I can.
We know that men benifit most from patriarchy. We know that saying “not all men” is often used to silence women and remove culpability from men that maintain toxic cultures but are not themselves explicitly and aggressively predatory. Especially when there is an established context of addressing rape, sexual assualt, violence, mysonginy etc.
However, this doesn’t foreclose the fact that “men” can be reduced down to a convenient punching bag instead of “predators and enablers” which is more specific even if the vast majority are men. When this happens, and someone brings it up (in good faith or otherwise), the reactions are predictably dismissive and essentialist.
By dismissing these concerns I believe there is a lot of troubling discourse at play. First, as a man, I read it as a signal for me to intensify certain masculine traits–stocism, raitionalism, and self discipline. I feel I am forced to accept that the complex nuances of the world are far too much for some to bare and that I must generously sacrifice my sense of identify, safety, and self worth. I feel asked to give myself up in order to not complicate the oversimplified narrative.
Secondly, this implies a question that must be answered, and is likely to be answered toxically. Why must I make this kind of sacrifice? One answer could be because there is a threat of character assassination for failing to stoically accept that your identity does not fit in the puzzle.
However, I am most troubled by another answer to the question: that the feable, hysterical, ungrounded feminine people in my life can’t function (emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically) as they need to without masculine sacfrice to constitute and legitimize the project of detoxifying masculinity.
What am saying? Ultimately, how we react to the “not all men” bit can indirectly enforce toxic masculinity even as it works to ostensibly address it directly. It also reinforces antifeminist stereotypes of non-men and privileges masculine qualities that will likley trend toward self flagulating. Thus toxic masculinity is allowed space to reproduce.
Why am I saying this? I want to be A man or “masculine,” and I want to be a feminist, and to be part of a healthy flourishing community to the extend that I am capable. I don’t know how to do this when I feel I am asked to embody what I feel are toxic, mysonginist, self destructive qualities that will supposedly make people safer because they won’t have to consider their ideology and my place in it. If I have to poison myself to make people feel comfortable as feminists, we have a problem.
What am I not saying? I’m not saying this phenomenon is all that common or that men should not be held accountable or babied. The discursive elements at play are certainly present in rage bait paltering and among certain toxic individuals and their spaces I have encountered. But I imagine subtle forms of this discourse are still at play on all scales.
I want to feel bad about what I do when I harm the community so that I want to do better for us all. But I don’t want to feel bad about what I am or whole parts of my identity because that will just harm me and still do nothing for anyone else.
Art is for girls?? As if art isn’t one of the fundamental parts of being human? As if women haven’t been barred from art schools and ateliers for thousands of years?
I cannot describe to you my reaction when he told me that story. It’s been 10 years and I’m still stunned.
What, you don’t remember any famous Renaissance women painters and sculptors?
Those women were outliers who pursued art despite being met with misogyny in nearly every corner of their field. (Also I know barely any Reneissance artists by name)
Exactly, that guy’s dad is an idiot. Clearly, art is for men, and he should have burned his daughter’s sketchbook!
Yep exactly!
FYI “patriarchy” is a gendered term which comes from the Latin, originally meaning “church government by patriarchs” (1560s) and later evolved to mean “society or government by elder males” (1630s). Historically, it referred to autocratic rule by men. More recently it has been expanded in feminist theory which broadly ascribes a set of toxic behaviours to men as a group. The problem with this word is that men don’t have a patent on toxic behaviour. It’s often not men telling other men not to cry and to man up, for example. It’s often the women in our lives, and especially our romantic partners. Raising “patriarchy” in this discussion is tantamount to blaming men for the issues they experience, and this is not helpful to anyone. No more than suggesting rape victims are also victims of the “matriarchy.” If you understand how offensive that might seem to you, you might understand how offensive your comment can be to men.
FYI,
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men.
[…] Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, religious, and economic organization of a range of different cultures. Most contemporary societies are, in practice, patriarchal, unless the criteria of complete exclusion of women in authority is applied.
Partiarchy is not a description of masculinity, toxic or otherwise. Patriarchy is a description of a social heirarchy.
Patriarchy is in large part to blame for toxic masculinity because historically and currently, men with power enforced social rule by men, and therefore enforced social elevation by their own subjective idea of what masculinity should be.
Patriarchy is not much different from (and intrinsically linked to) the idea of a King’s divine right to rule - if you were in power, you deserved to be in power, and the qualities of the people in power were therefore the qualities of the people who deserved to be in power. Thus, their ideas of masculinity became long-lasting cultural norms.
Pointing out that the history of patriarchy enforced toxic masculinity is not accusing men themselves of enforcing it on an individual level, or dismissing rhe role that women played in enforcing these gender divisions.
The same can be said for pointing out that the history of Feudalism enforced horrrible class stratification that still impacts Western culture today. Modern day Knights like the late Sir Terry Pratchett and Sir Elton John would agree with that, because individuals can be distanced from and even directly challenge a system that they benefit from, much like men have a moral right and responsibility to challenge the role that the Patriarchy has played in enforcing these outdated gender divisions.
Pointing out that the history of patriarchy enforced toxic masculinity is not accusing men themselves of enforcing it on an individual level, or dismissing rhe role that women played in enforcing these gender divisions.
Well it is, and you’ve laid out the case. If the system in which we currently live is designed for and by men, then a) they have less of a right to complain about their treatment, b) they have some hand in its creation, and c) have a burden to undo it. In fact, most men have no hand in its creation, have every right to complain, and have no burden to undo it. Raising patriarchy in a discussion about issues men face makes no sense unless you are d) allocating blame in some way, e) suggesting that men have a responsibility to fix their own issues, and/or f) ascribing a certain set of toxic behaviour specifically to men. None of those are helpful. None of those are supportive.
The issue is treating men like a homogenous group instead of specifically addressing those in power, who are both men and women.
A) They have every right to complain about their treatment. In fact, that is what we are doing by complaining about the Patriarchy. You should complain too.
Again, the patriarchy hurts men. They are victims of the lasting damage caused by outdated gender norms that originated from men in power and are perpetuated by men who are still in power. Not all men. Not even all men in power. Specifically, men in power who perpetuate the problem.
B) Individual women can play just as big a role as individual men in perpetuating the gender norms that favor patriarchal heirarchy. By pointing out that men are victims of patriarchy, we are specifically pointing out that most of them do not have an individual hand in its creation. If you are not in power, you are not the Patriarchy, and thus you are not the origin of the problem, though you can be perpetuating the problem, regardless of your gender.
C) We all have a burden to undo the lasting damage caused by our society’s historical failures. We all have a moral responsibility to improve ourselves as individuals and as a society, regardless of our gender.
D) refer back to (B)
E) refer back to ©
F) refer back to (A)
Again, the Patriarchy is not a description of men, or a homogenization of a group. It is a description of a social heirarchy. “The Patriarchy” =/= “all men”. I don’t know how much more clear I can make that.
Individual men are no more responsible for the Patriarchy than individual citizens are responsible for the oppressive behaviors of their governments, unless they support, perpetuate, or refuse to acknowledge it.
There are many, many more men still in power than women. Your last point is laughable.
Again. As I said. Those individual women in power can be responsible too. I absolutely agree with that. They can be responsible for perpetuating the Patriarchy. God knows plenty of literal Queens have done so throughout history.
But if you seriously believe that women as a group hold as much power as men as a group, then this conversation is a waste of time.
And if you seriously believe that men in power throughout history haven’t left a mark on today’s society, or that it’s insulting to men to even talk about that history by giving it a name, then I refer you back to ©. You absolutely have a moral burden to be better than the humans who came before you, and choosing to be offended by that is just burying your head in the sand.
What I’m reading from your writing is that both men and women in power have and continue to contribute to gender norms, which confine and hurt both men and women. If so, why use gendered language at all? There is much research and theory in sociology and specifically feminist studies about the impact of gendered language. I’m sure you broadly agree that “man up” is hurtful gendered language because it implies men should conform to a specific set of subjective behaviour. Why can you not see that a gendered male term for a toxic and harmful system is if not explicitly harmful, certainly implicitly so? Why not use a gender neutral germ like “structural gender roles” or something else which doesn’t imply blame? Surely this is not the first time a man has told you he feels offended by your use of this word. Why do you not listen and accept the hurt you cause by your continued use of it instead of just using something less offensive?
Unless, of course, you do intend to imply blame. That men are more to blame. That more men hold power, therefore we should use a gendered word to ensure we are clear who is more to blame.
Men had a lot more power and influence than women, and men continue to have a lot more power and influence. That isn’t applying blame. That is indisputable fact. Men as a group are more responsible for gender inequality than women, because men hold more power than women. Again, indisputable fact.
Men hold most of the highest offices of the most powerful nations in the world, and most of those nations still have severe gender disparities that they are not addressing, or addressing terribly slowly. Again, indisputable fact.
The only way to help people see that women do not have an equal amount of power and influence in the modern day is to talk about it. Gender-neutral terms are not always helpful towards that end, because it is not a gender-neutral topic.
The patriarchy isn’t harmful gendered language the way “man up” is. Nobody is harmed by the term patriarchy. It is not a weapon used to put men down, it is a term used to describe an unequal power balance between groups of people.
Why, exactly, are you offended by a term that doesn’t describe you?
Martin Luther King Jr. described “white moderates” as a major barrier to civil rights. Was he wrong to refer to them by the color of their skin? Did he harm white progressives by doing so?
Should he have used race-neutral terms? Should he have just said “moderates,” as if that would hold any of the same power or meaning? Should white progressives have been offended by his description of white moderates?
Are women truly wrong to refer to the vast majority of the people who hold power over them as “men”, when it is indisputable fact?
Men had a lot more power and influence than women, and men continue to have a lot more power and influence. That isn’t applying blame. That is indisputable fact. Men as a group are more responsible for gender inequality than women, because men hold more power than women. Again, indisputable fact.
Some men. A minority of men. You’re doing the thing right now. “Men” isn’t a homogenous group, yet you’re clearly placing them into one. Women aren’t a minority group. How would you react if a woman wrote a post here about being raped, and I started discussing matriarchy, and how women, as a group, tend to act. Surely that would be a terrible thing for me to do, yet here you are, doing just that.
You make it clear that this is about attributing blame. You’ve dedicated multiple paragraphs to blaming men as a group. That’s why you won’t give up the gendered language. This isn’t about helping men at all. It’s about blaming them, even though you acknowledge most of them are not responsible. You must see how that foments anger from men, and how you are perpetuating negative stereotypes and animosity by continuing to use such toxic gendered language.
I think it’s fine to claim that the majority of positions of power are held by men. I think it’s wrong to say that “men” are responsible for bad things. If you’re specific about the bad men (or even better, bad people), no problem. If you broadly refer to men when describing toxic behaviour, you’re blaming people who don’t deserve it. Just like one shouldn’t blame “women” or the “matriarchy” for things either. Surely you agree with that?
managed to make a comment about the damaging aspects of male dominated society into hating women, congrats.
One of the best things I did to change my life for the better was to stop caring about what other’s think. You can basically laugh off any criticism and the people who will seriously be mean to you about something are not people to keep in your life.
When I go to a bar, I do not need to order a bitter IPA, I’ll get whatever sweet cocktail I want. If someone calls me out for it not being manly, I just tell them the manliest thing is doing whatever the hell you want. I’ve never had someone say something to me like that and be serious about it, but whenever a hear that joke, my response always shuts them up.
Just do whatever you want and stop worrying about others. If people reject you, then get new people.
If anyone needs to talk about their problem 1v1, just send me a DM. I’d be happy to talk to you. I’m white, male, and in my 30s if that makes a difference.
This is the way. Supportive, contributing to community and generally helpful. ❤️
I think the ever growing machismo bullshit in America has subconsciously made me a different (better) person out of spite. I grew my hair super long again, and embrace liking kawaii and other cute and chill cultures, despite being a straight cis white male that wears mostly black and listens to metal.
Wait what’s kawaii? Besides, like, the place
Same, but with fascists/far-right wingers and their fashion. I’m shaving my head and dressing punkier because I hate this old-money vibe so many are trying to get. Sorry, no, rebellious leftists (and not billionaires) are my inspiration.
Is it ever growing? It seems very much that, on net, it is decreasing.
I have been all of these things at some point in the last 15 years.
Sending out love to all my brothers. Hang in there, things will get better. Even if they get waaaaaaay worse beforehand, which usually happens when you expect it the least.
Just try to stay strong, keep on going and don’t you dare go hollow.
Men’s health month being identical with gay pride month seems rather unfortunate.
It only seems unfortunate because of toxic issues and misunderstandings.
In reality, the goals of the two groups are completely aligned. Mental health, acceptance, being treated fairly, and just wanting to be happy and free. A lot of pride is essentially modern feminism, which also encompasses men’s rights in good, healthy ways that are ACTUALLY good for men.
As a flaming neurodivergent queer, I can tell you, that pride and men’s health have so many goals in common, that the Venn Diagram is basically just a single circle.
We can absolutely share.
The toxic issues and misunderstandings are precisely the reason why these months exist in the first place.
While it’s true that they’re generally aligned, that doesn’t mean that they actually gain from sharing the same month. Even queer people haven’t all accepted that this is a fight that needs to be fought together, and many men are afraid to get close to queer movement(s) not even necessarily because they themselves think it’s bad, but because they’re afraid of what, let’s say, less enlightened people will think and do.
For the record, I’m queer, too.
I prefer to think of men’s health as pride’s child event: pride has many movements under it, and as long as they don’t go against the spirit and movement of pride, they’re welcome to join.
People will be afraid of anything, for all sorts of real or imagined reasons. I welcome them in peace with arms wide open, for all those that are willing to try in good faith are welcome to seek peace and a better tomorrow. We are all human, just trying to be happy. If we can reach ascension and self awareness, together, we can go, together, and behead each and every billionaire and bathe in their life force and consume their cursed flesh, making the world a better place and a better tomorrow for us all 🫂
;)
Thank you for saying this! This is the bridge building that can make a future worth living
it’s just pride month; you don’t have to be gay to be queer!
How is it unfortunate?
I’m specifying “gay” because neonazis are trying to coopt it as white pride month. While I agree that queer would be more general, many people don’t like that term and while I’ve never seen “queer pride” mentioned, I did see “gay pride”.
Both men’s health (especially men’s mental health) and LGBTQ rights are huge, important and frequently neglected topics, and IMO using the same month diminishes both (especially since there is considerable overlap, which would be fine if we didn’t suck so much as a society when it comes to these topics). Though I suppose there’s only so many months in a year so it’s inevitably going to get crowded if you want to dedicate entire months to topics.
We don’t need to change everything we say just because neonazis try to take it. That’s literally letting them succeed in coopting the month and the term.
It’s just Pride Month, and nazis can get fucked.
if you refer to it as ‘gay pride month’ you are leaving behind the many queer people who celebrate pride and aren’t gay. Most folks just call it pride now to be inclusive.
According to ddg search results, “gay pride” is actually more common than just “pride” where I live.
i’m telling you as a gay queer person that you’ve got it a bit old fashioned. like referring to Ukraine as The Ukraine. you can take it or leave it :)
shrug
This is a consequence of the globalization of the English language.
strikes me as more of simple stubbornness to be honest
That observation doesn’t surprise me, since about 10% of the population is gay. Other types of queer people are a significantly smaller minority.
Also, the term queer just rolls off the tongue much easier than an acronym that never seems to be inclusive enough. I like this word better than any of the acronyms, but I can totally see why some people don’t want to be called queer.
It’s due to Father’s Day and started as the week leading up to Father’s Day.
There’s only 12 months in the year. If every issue is going to have a month, there’s going to be some overlap.
I mean, I’m sure vodka appreciation day falls during temperance week. It’s why having “Official Concept Day” and especially “Official Concept Month” is such a dumbfuck idea.
June 28th is Official Concept Day, I got dibs.
It’s annoying to have to wonder whether whoever started men’s health month did it just to be all “but what about this other issue?” and intentionally move attention away from pride. Issues of men’s rights and health are extremely important to me, and I hate how often they’re brought up in bad faith by misogynists and other hateful people.
Totally bad faith. Mental health awareness month is May. It’s non-gendered but it’s been May since 1949.
Source: NAMI. The National Alliance on Mental Health. I support them financially.
Is that true that it was done in bad faith?
Because it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. A pretty big portion of people that celebrate pride… Are men. (And as a slight tangent, let me just say that pride is amazing for your all-over health)
Of course it was. There’s a subsection of people who want to divide the folks who believe in things like men’s mental health, and also pride. You can do both. You should do both. Trying to move mental health month to overlap with pride is agitprop. Trying to make this a pride versus men issue, or a mental health versus men’s mental health issue, is coordinated nonsense. Don’t let them do that to you.
Advocate for mental health, and men’s mental health, every day. Celebrate mental health month, and include your male friends, like I do. But don’t let someone try and define men’s mental health specifically to overlap with something else, something that right-wing, manosphere assholes will tell you is bad.
Edited to add: I think part of the problem is that folks don’t seem to keep these things in their calendars or in their minds, and just react to ‘whatever month’ when they see image macros. Next year I’ll try and post memes about mental health awareness month during May. I’m not as good at advocating online as I am in person- I usually use the internet to unwind and shitpost and pick fights when my meds wear off. I’ll try and do better.
If you want to make men’s health a whole month, it’s probably not a good idea to make it completely overlap with another prominent health-themed month. Not that June is any better.
It’s inevitable though, there are so many issues and only twelve months.
If ya’ll aren’t emphasizing men’s mental health, which is friggin epidemic, during the mental health month, it’s being done wrong.
Let’s be real, I don’t remember seeing any ‘mental health month’ posts in May.
I find it ironic that mental health awareness month happens during one of the most hectic months of the year for many people.
I got to be honest, that really bums me out.
I’m a person with C-PTSD who volunteers with local veterans. I really hammered home mental health awareness month. I mean, I talk about it all the time, but NAMI does some cool stuff during May. I even recall seeing some busses that had NAMI wraps on them talking about it in May!
Eta: I said elsewhere, and I’m saying it again (hope it sinks in), next May I’ll try and generate content and memes and stuff. Hearing that some of you didn’t see or hear anything during May has really had a massive dampening effect on my day. Ya’ll deserve outreach, same as everyone in my meatspace.
Honestly, I think they work well together. The two subjects can be quite related. Mental health and love are often intertwined, too.
Yeah I like the idea behind this but the fact that out of the 12 months, this was the month that was chosen for this is fairly eyebrow raising. I’m all for men becoming better people and freeing their minds, having their own liberation movement. But then someone has to come along and specifically choose pride month for this, just making it look bad all over again. It’s like men can’t be happy unless it involves taking away someone else’s happiness.
Yeah, if they start dating men it’s only going to get worse. Their mental health.
If we assume that men who date men were already gay, bi etc. before, surely their mental health would improve compared to being fully in the closet?
deleted by creator
I daily sent my partner a message like that. He has a 5/6 bleu hart score btw.
This has literally been my entire life since before 2nd grade. Yay for medication and therapy.
I scrolled past this at first, then went back and man, it brought a smile to my face. I’m going through a stressful time in school (since the education system is ass, especially for neurodivergent students) and this gave me a bunch of hope.
And I gotta say, lots of our feeds are packed with depressing news stories and Lemmy infighting, but where’s the feel good content? I’ve only seen a few of them so far.
Negative feelings do for more engagement. Not really anyones fault but our brains.
Yeah, is basically why I don’t watch tv news anymore, it’s always negative stuff that I really didn’t need to know.
If you still want to keep up with the news, get an actual paper subscription to something like The Atlantic or The Economist. You still get the overarching themes of the day, but with more nuance and a larger view. It is also more limited - you get that news, but you aren’t doom scrolling. Plus less time staring at a screen. Plus you can put them on your coffee table and look like a hoity toity intellectual when you have company over.
A good alternative to Lemmy is going outside and talking to people. And yet, here we are.
Im all these things except the therapy one
Dude here. The therapy one can really help, especially when you find the therapist who’s right for you. It doesn’t fix everything of course but it can set you down a road where your situation starts improving. It took me a long long time to try it but I’m so glad I’ve got one now.
You should do the therapy one. It is kind of fun once you realize that you can basically just say whatever the hell you want and won’t be judged or interact with the person socially. You also can be assured that it is kept secret (with a few serious exceptions) by law.
It is kind of freeing to just open up about the hardest things to talk about with anyone else.
I’m in a pretty good place mentally, but I still check in with my psych every couple months. Usually just to vent about stuff that I do not want to discuss with people I interact with socially.
Go for it. Not gonna lie to you. It’s scary and it’s hard but, even if you don’t deal with all the shit, just having someone to talk to who can give actually useful advice helps a lot.
2 out of 6 ain’t bad
Yay, thank you!
Appreciating some male positivity
🫂
??? Mental Health Awareness Month is May. It’s super easy to remember because of the alliteration.
did you misread the hashtag
Well, no. I make sure to always emphasize men’s mental health, and I especially love talking about it in the context of Klingons. But… I can’t make every month mental health awareness month.
deleted by creator
Maybe this is about general health, like prostate cancer, phimosis, etc.
There should absolutely be prostate cancer awareness!
Thank you. 👍