Connor Beaton and a guest explore how masculine culture pressures men to suppress emotions and fit a narrow definition of strength. They call this "one-dimensional masculinity" and discuss how breaking free from it requires acknowledging and expressing what you've been taught to hide.
for most men, strength equals suppression. And the more you can suppress, the more you can push down, the more you think you're presenting yourself as strong. And I do think that that's part of our masculine culture that's faulty.
I call it one-dimensional masculinity.
Like, we've tried to compress masculinity into this very finite, small material. And if you step outside of that, you're attacked or shamed or seen as weird or strange. What was that like for you? And how did you start to get out of that cell?
I was sexually abused. When I was 8 years old by an older teenage boy that lived across the street from me for about a 6-month period of time. I don't know these terms at the time, obviously. All I knew is that if I told my parents, my dad would kill the guy and my older brother would bury the body because my older brother founded a gang in LA. So at 8 years old, I made a decision not to tell the truth about what happened because in my mind it was going to mean I'm going to lose my father and my brother.
How to Raise Strong, Unshakable Boys in Today's Culture, with Dr. Shefali Tsabary
