this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
14 points (93.8% liked)

Men's Liberation

1844 readers
3 users here now

This community is first and foremost a feminist community for men and masc people, but it is also a place to talk about men’s issues with a particular focus on intersectionality.


Rules

Everybody is welcome, but this is primarily a space for men and masc people


Non-masculine perspectives are incredibly important in making sure that the lived experiences of others are present in discussions on masculinity, but please remember that this is a space to discuss issues pertaining to men and masc individuals. Be kind, open-minded, and take care that you aren't talking over men expressing their own lived experiences.



Be productive


Be proactive in forming a productive discussion. Constructive criticism of our community is fine, but if you mainly criticize feminism or other people's efforts to solve gender issues, your post/comment will be removed.

Keep the following guidelines in mind when posting:

  • Build upon the OP
  • Discuss concepts rather than semantics
  • No low effort comments
  • No personal attacks


Assume good faith


Do not call other submitters' personal experiences into question.



No bigotry


Slurs, hate speech, and negative stereotyping towards marginalized groups will not be tolerated.



No brigading


Do not participate if you have been linked to this discussion from elsewhere. Similarly, links to elsewhere on the threadiverse must promote constructive discussion of men’s issues.



Recommended Reading

Related Communities

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

This week's prompt is: Do you feel pressured to be a useful man?


Thought I'd start off this weekly discussion thing with an old discussion post from when we were quite a bit smaller. Put another way: How does your understanding of utility inform your own and other folk's perceptions of masculinity?

This post will stay pinned until next week's discussion post.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think the pressure is there, and I think the word itself is one of the ways men are objectified. Objects are used, people should not be.

We're social creatures by nature, and we all have needs. Fortunately or unfortunately our needs cannot be met without effort. I think everyone who can should contribute at least as much as they consume, if not more for the betterment of society. The way I see it, you have two ways of contributing to society.

  • by being productive
  • by augmenting others through positive interaction

There was a scene in the show "suits" where they were trying to fire the least productive intern, but before they fired him, they realized he made everyone around him more productive. That was his contribution, and getting rid of him would be a mistake.

I think with men it's often only the first form of contributing that counts as "useful" and I don't think that's a good thing.