#HeForShe · Critical Thought

In Which One is Critical of Gender Critical Gender

I saw a Twitter post the other day asking why the recent Jon Stewart piece was doing everything with respect to women rather than men. It seemed like an odd question to me because while, yes, men are the privileged group and women the disadvantaged, the discussion always seems to be with respect to women.… Continue reading In Which One is Critical of Gender Critical Gender

#HeForShe · Social Contract

A Traditionally Masculine Question About Gender

We're doing things a little differently today. Normally with this blog I attempt to share opinion and experience (alongside any expertise that I can). That's why I focus on aspects of mental health (rather than the field broadly) and writing. Today, I want to venture into an area where I have zero qualification. Not only… Continue reading A Traditionally Masculine Question About Gender

#HeForShe · Critical Thought · Personal

On Little Women: Jo the Ladybird

This post might have gone any one of several different ways. Originally I felt compelled to write something about "Little Women" in general. After mentioning the story and characters several times in other recent posts, I realised that me complicated feelings towards Laurie and Amy would make for an interesting examination. As much as I… Continue reading On Little Women: Jo the Ladybird

#HeForShe

Toxic Femininity Does Not Exist

"Toxic masculinity" is shorthand for "the pressures of social expectations of traditional masculinity resulting in violence". As I talk through the matter with intelligent people who disagree, who claim that toxic femininity must also be a thing, it is this fundamental definition that appears to be the sticking point. One could rightly assert that women… Continue reading Toxic Femininity Does Not Exist

#HeForShe · Personal · Social Contract

I Might Be a Terrible Feminist, and I’m Too Afraid of What I Might Find Out

I have danced around this topic several times before, and perhaps this will be but another in a series of failures to fail. Over the course of the last ten to fifteen years, I have been in the OCPD-riddled process of attempting to write a novel. As I learn and develop a process, I scrap… Continue reading I Might Be a Terrible Feminist, and I’m Too Afraid of What I Might Find Out

#HeForShe · Mental Health · Personal

Aesthetics and Human Attraction – a Personal Account

I want to discuss what I consider a riskier topic today - attraction. What better way for a socially anxious, aspiring ally to begin than to derail the entire discussion with qualifiers to assuage my guilt for wanting to discuss it, right? First, this is not common from an academic, psychological perspective, and what I… Continue reading Aesthetics and Human Attraction – a Personal Account