So, back when I was "still cis tho", there were a lot of aspects of male gender norms that bothered me deeply and of course I totally understand why now. Even though these days I obviously have a clear reason for feeling that way, I'm still curious if cishet men also have issues with how norms or expectations around gender and sexuality impact them in a negative way.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how those norms impact you, whether good or bad.

Also, I should mention that since this is a bit of a sensitive subject we're talking about here, please be thoughtful and sensitive when discussing with others in this thread. Thanks! <3

EDIT: Much thanks for all the great responses here! I know it's a difficult topic of course, so I appreciate you sharing your thoughts/feelings like this.

Speaking of which... I just looked at /c/menby and some of the posts on the front page there are over 2 years old. I see a lot of the discussion here centered around not being able to share feelings and/or not having the spaces or support to do that in. /c/menby seems like the perfect place for that, just sayin'.

  • Carcharodonna [she/her]
    ·
    12 days ago

    i think it's sort of a compounding effect of various societal norms regarding what is considered "masculine and respectable" that causes a lot of friendships amongst men, and amongst cishet men especially, to be very shallow and impersonal.

    Based on what I've read, this seems like it's very much a modern thing and that deep male friendship was the norm throughout most of human history.

    Relevant poem:

    They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.

    ~ Callimachus, Elegy for Heracleitus

    • jacab [he/him]
      ·
      12 days ago

      very true; i wonder if it's related to the rise of public performativity caused by the internet/global real-time communication. if in the past men were primarily performing masculinity and upholding male gender norms for the people around them, while learning masculinity from celebrities and men around them, it seems possible that modern men have formed a new defensive, emotionally suppressive attitude towards performing masculinity on account of the sheer quantity of people they're now performing for and learning from.