sjdean on the blog

I read an article on how Emmerdale will run a Toxic Masculinity storyline. I tire of this toxic masculinity stuff.  Why do we never talk about toxic women? Does Toxic Feminity even exist? The answer is, it depends on who you talk to. In the interests of fairness, people will rightly point out that yes, women, just the same as men, have the capability to be toxic. However others say, if you think toxic feminity exists, then you are part of the problem. They will say if women have become toxic, it is only because the patriarchy made them that way. As other respondents point out, if that is the case, then men became toxic because of the patriarchy. You see, you can't just negate the blame for your own actions and behaviour by levelling them at someone else. That, for want of a better word, is toxic. There are men who have been raped, abused, beaten and emotionally destroyed by women. That's not to say that toxic masculinity exists, of course it exists, it just acknowledges t...

It's a nice ideal isn't it, to have freedom of movement, being able to go wherever you want without restriction. Indeed, I quite fancy it myself, just being able to upsticks and go somewhere that feels more ideologically suited. However those wanting to tear down borders, are quite deluded. If you want to tear down borders, why don't you tear down your front door? Like doors, fences and walls, borders exist as a form of security for the people who live within those borders. Within the border is a society that votes for a government to protect and to a certain extent provide for its citizens, passing a set of laws that are mostly designed to provide harmonious interoperability between its inhabitants, where people play by the same rules. Tear down borders, and you have people playing by different rules. You risk bringing in previously eradicated diseases like polio, criminal and terror threats. Ideally this shouldn't be a problem because it should be dealt with b...