Are Men Really the Problem? The War on Masculinity Needs to Stop

In today’s world, it feels like being a man is increas­ing­ly seen as a prob­lem. If you’ve scrolled through social media, read main­stream arti­cles, or watched Netflix’s lat­est takes on masculinity—like their new series Adolescence—you’ve prob­a­bly noticed a com­mon theme: men are paint­ed as tox­ic, prob­lem­at­ic, and in need of fix­ing. But is that real­ly the case?

The pro­gres­sive left seems obsessed with redefin­ing mas­culin­i­ty, often push­ing the nar­ra­tive that men are inher­ent­ly harm­ful. It’s as if sim­ply being male is some­thing to apol­o­gize for. And yet, when you look at the real world, most men don’t buy into this extreme por­tray­al. We’re not out here form­ing “tox­ic envi­ron­ments” just by existing—we’re nav­i­gat­ing life, improv­ing our­selves, and sup­port­ing the peo­ple around us.

Masculinity Is Not the Enemy

The term “tox­ic mas­culin­i­ty” gets thrown around a lot, but let’s be real—masculinity itself is not tox­ic. Strength, ambi­tion, resilience, and lead­er­ship are not neg­a­tive traits. In fact, they’re what dri­ve soci­ety for­ward. The prob­lem isn’t men; the prob­lem is how soci­ety views men.
Instead of blam­ing men for all of society’s issues, we should be ask­ing a dif­fer­ent ques­tion: Why is there such a push to dis­man­tle tra­di­tion­al mas­culin­i­ty? Is it because strong, inde­pen­dent men are hard­er to con­trol? Is it because a self-reliant, dis­ci­plined man doesn’t fit the mod­ern vic­tim­hood nar­ra­tive?

The Real Crisis: Lost Men, Not Toxic Men

Let’s talk about the real problem—men are strug­gling. Depres­sion, lone­li­ness, and sui­cide rates among men are ris­ing. Many feel lost, direc­tion­less, and dis­con­nect­ed from their pur­pose. This isn’t because they’re too “toxic”—it’s because they’ve been told their nat­ur­al instincts and strengths are wrong.
Soci­ety should be encour­ag­ing men to be their best, not sham­ing them into sub­mis­sion. We need to focus on self-improve­ment, finan­cial free­dom, men­tal strength, and confidence—not apol­o­giz­ing for who we are.

Mencademy: Reclaiming Masculinity

At Men­cad­e­my, we believe men should take charge of their lives and embrace their strengths. Instead of being pas­sive par­tic­i­pants in the debate about mas­culin­i­ty, we should be shap­ing it. It’s time to focus on becom­ing the best ver­sions of ourselves—not shrink­ing to fit a nar­ra­tive that tells us we’re the ene­my.
Men aren’t the prob­lem. Weak, direc­tion­less men are. And the solu­tion isn’t to reject masculinity—it’s to reclaim it.

So, what do you think? Share this arti­cle if you agree.