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Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of controversy around the topic of masculinity. What is it? Why is it being spoken about so much today? How will it affect our future generations? These are some of the questions that people have been asking recently. I started to question what is masculinity and how do I know I was raised in toxic or healthy masculinity. Podcasts, youtube channels, articles, tik tok videos, social media influencers, and even a famous figure Andrew Tate. All these people and things started posting all day every day about masculinity. Saying men should be this and women should do this, how men should act in certain situations, and how they shouldn’t act. Men say how they have been treated by the people around them and how they grew up in society. Then influencers talk about how young boys should be raised in society and how masculinity is toxic for males and shouldn’t be a thing but then on the other side is the best thing for men and all men should be fully engrossed in it. In my life and in my household I was not raised like that I had a healthy example of masculinity and femininity. I had a father that talked to me when I was troubled and helped me work through my emotions and deal with them in a HEALTHY manner. He showed me to not be aggressive all the time and to think with my head rather than my emotions. I had a loving mother who showed me empathy, cared for me, and showed me how to love healthily. She taught me how to express myself and be me at all times and give me the confidence to be swayed by others. By having both of these I have a pretty level head and security in myself as a person. (318)

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My critical question was Given the culture surrounding young boys, what would be the best way to raise them, and the benefits and consequences of embracing or rejecting the machismo culture? So I read through 4 articles, did a ton of research, and talked to my father and some of the men I know that are also fathers. During my research, I noticed that most older men that had daughters and sons mainly had the same outlook on how to raise young boys and what masculinity is. Most of them said that yes fathers do tend to look after and watch their daughters a bit more when it comes to raising them because men are usually and instinctively more protective of the women in their family and tend to relax when the women are with someone that they know can protect them and feel safe with them. But, when it comes to raising boys they tend to be more relaxed and give them free rein on some of their choices because men can protect themselves when it comes down to an altercation. I also learned that most men have the same general idea and definition when it comes to being about masculine culture. Most said that being masculine means mostly protection. Being able to protect your loved ones and being able to take on responsibilities and handle them in an efficient and orderly fashion. You don’t need to be tough and hard all the time just when the time comes you should be. Most men want to undo the trauma of the bad sides of masculinity that they had to endure when they grew up and they want their sons to be shown a better way than just being shown and taught that the only way to be masculine is to disregard your emotions and yours don’t matter. I learned that being a good example and showing your kids a healthy balance of masculinity is the best way to do it. Having a feminine and masculine side. Masculinity is not a bad thing if there’s too much then you are too aggressive and you can’t be calm in certain situations, but if there’s none at all then how are you going to handle yourself when things get put on you and pressure builds? There needs to be a balance of it so that you can handle your emotions when times are rough and acknowledge when you are not feeling when and be strong and stand on your own feet when you are knocked and give and cry. Masculinity is a great thing everyone needs in order to be a man and a woman, just make sure you keep yourself humble for it. (452)

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I sat down with my father and asked him what it was like to raise a boy to a man(ME), the advantages and disadvantages of raising men in a masculinity sense, and how it was raising a girl first then a boy, with the differences that come with it. What was his definition of masculinity and what does it mean for the future

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I drew a fist with words inside of it because I think a flexed arm is a good representation of masculinity but the things that fill in that arm make it flexed like that are the type of things men need to learn to make them strong

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Annotated Bibligpraphy

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