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. Why? Because you have to

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s anger. I obviously can’t speak

is not just the performance of [the]
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fied by gender and race, it isn’t
cuum. Miller elaborates: “Sure,

play with trucks and girls are raised to play with
ly want to drive big machines and that women
e gender binary have an equal capacity to want

if you want to get to the root you
ces that shape and determine us

tes that the documentary doesn’t
escribes as “a system of power and
e don’t want to acknowledge,” and
rd might make the documentary

rchy, but not by name. He notes the
e documentary: “You're working

against thousands of years of culture,” he says. True, for thousands
of years women were systemically subjugated by men—but as
recently as 100 years ago in Canada, women were granted the right
to vote. Structurally, things are becoming more equal, but in terms of
our socialization, there is still room for improvement. By divorcing
the idea of toxic masculinity from the systems of oppression which
uphold it, Siebel Newsom does her cause a disservice.

The type of assault
on masculinity that Siebel
Newsom brings to light in The
Mask You Live In is a product of
the patriarchal system under
which we have all been raised.
The fact that young boys are
raised to play with trucks and
girls are raised to play with
dolls does not mean that men
innately want to drive big
machines and that women are
innate caregivers; both sides
of the gender binary have an
equal capacity to want both things. Harmful ideas about masculinity
are ingrained in this system, Miller says: “You can’t separate
masculinity from patriarchy so in order to end the latter you must
destroy the former.”

We also spoke to Douglas Students’ Union College Relations
Coordinator Madison Paradis-Woodman, who agrees that the strict
adherence to the gender binary is harmful.

“I believe we are doing a disservice to boys by pressuring them
to blindly adopt blanket masculinity at face value,” says Paradis-

- Michael Kimmel

 

Woodman, adding that the statistics in the documentary trailer (boys
under the age of 17 drink more than any other demographic) do not
surprise him. “We teach at a young age that expressing feminine
emotions is inappropriate.”

“1 believe that to facilitate men opening up more, we need to
redefine what it means to be a man and express masculinity,” says
Paradis-Woodman. He suggests some structural changes which could
take place: “Initiatives like rebranding masculinity in media to be
more human and compassionate, and a national campaign educating
youth that being masculine isn’t about inhibiting certain emotions and
acting a particular way.”

Paradis-Woodman thinks the documentary is a step in the right
direction, and that screening it on campus would be a good idea:
“This documentary would spark a fulsome discussion around gender
and expression, and it would also be informative and engaging.

“The Students’ Union does facilitate discussions that members
are having on campus, as long as the discussion is not promoting hate
towards another group of people. It is a Students’ Union responsibility
to support their membership.”

It should be the responsibility of the academic cohort within
colleges and universities to spearhead discussions on gender
expectations. These discussions should be inclusive: there should be
spaces made in which men can feel comfortable expressing feminine-
associated emotions. And the conversation should continue to
challenge and explode stereotypes. Siebel Newsom’s documentary
The Mask You Live In is a hotly anticipated slice of the pie, to be viewed
as a jumping-off point for an ongoing analysis of the systems which
socially define us.