ELLECANADA.COM 71
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EXCERPT
I
t had no name, but it was everywhere. I would hear about the
crisis affecting men and women’s intimate relationships wher-
ever I turned. I saw it in my group texts with women, in the
conversations I would overhear in coffee shops and even on my
Instagram feed. Women had always complained about diffi-
culties in their romantic relationships with men, but something felt
different. Suddenly it seemed like women were done. They had put
up with men who were emotionally inconsistent or unavailable for
too long. They were desperate to love men, but according to them,
men had become impossible to love. Men were frustrated too. The
women in their lives were asking them to be more sensitive in private,
but men were still expected to hide the fact that they were even ca-
pable of having feelings in public. Their girlfriends were telling them
to open up, but society was still telling them to “man up.” They didn’t
know which man to be and, honestly, I didn’t blame them.
One friend left her husband because he would tune out and watch
television every night, refusing to go on a date or to couples therapy.
Another left because he had hidden a drug problem from her and, once
found out, refused to get help. One husband refused to take anti-anxiety
medication. He was offended it had even been prescribed. These were
more than emotional problems. These women were left dealing with
their husbands’ unresolved mental-health issues. h
Toxic masculinity doesn’t hurt just
women. Men are drowning in mixed
messages and, it seems, losing the
women at their sides. Liz Plank reports.
THE GREAT
Suppression