re: Gillette toxic masculinity and my thoughts

I consider myself fairly manly. No, I don’t watch football or have a beard, but I do legitimately break chains with my chest and bend steel with my strength. I have a world record in bending steel as a matter of fact so I don’t think that anyone is going to call me feminine any time soon.

Watch this video, and you’ll see that I’m not a sissy.

No, I wouldn’t be caught dead in skinny jeans, most of my shirts are either from bands I follow or have funny slogans printed on them. I have an allergic reaction to boy bands and The Real Housewives of wherever. I enjoy drinking beer, whiskey, watching chase scenes, heavy metal music and I like pretty girls.

I like pretty girls so much I married one and helped give birth to another (technically my wife gave birth, but I enjoyed contributing). I’m not afraid of spiders and am proud to be a man.

So when I heard about this commercial of Gillette shaming toxic masculinity and other guys saying “time to switch brands” and that sort of thing I wanted to see what’s up.

A friend of mine once quipped that I was the only one she knew that could both give out man cards and take them away so I thought I might weigh in on the subject.

Here are my thoughts. It’s not shaming men, not real men anyways. The things that shame men are those sitcoms that portray men as incapable of doing anything without their wives. You know the ones, the one that has the “man” of the household that is incapable of cooking a halfway decent meal or changing a diaper. The man that is too dumb to know how to take care of his family.

No, what Gillette is shaming are the @$$holes that give the good ones of us a bad name. You know, the bullies, the rapists, the abusers, the predators, the jerks and the creeps that get away with their behavior because nobody else manned up and stood up for what’s right.

Just now I went to a website called “The Art of Manliness” and saw a banner they have up that said “Strength in Virtue and Virtue in Strength”. To me that is what being a real man is about. Physical strength, as well as strength of character. My first steel-bending strongman mentor New Jersey’s Superman the late and great, Greg Matonick cautioned me to be “an all-around strongman”. To basically use my strength for the good and benefit of those around me.

A real man should make the women around him feel safe by his presence. The should not feel like they’re in danger. The women should draw strength just from being in proximity to him by thinking “everything is ok because he is here”. Not “I hope I don’t get raped or groped, or talked over.” like she’s an idiot or piece of meat.

Aggression is one of those traits that is considered masculine, and to a point it also is kind of shamed in the video. I’m a believer that it shouldn’t be shunned, but it should instead be cultivated in a positive direction. A “man” that fights for what’s right is “a hero”, while a man who pushes those around him down is just a dickhead.

Yes, I am a man. I’m also a brother to a sister, a son to a mother, a husband to a wife, and a father to a daughter. Right now I’m trying to raise my daughter to be tough, fearless and not to take the kind of crap that the men previously might have gotten away with. I’m also raising her quite simply be a good person, and I expect those of you with sons to do the same. Raise your sons to be good people. I don’t think it’s too much to ask or expect.

This video is quite simply a call for us to be better men, plain and simple. And since I have no plans of growing a beard, Gillette, I will not stop using your razors.

If you liked this post please share it. If you are offended by this post go back to your safe-zone and cry about it snowflake. As always what happens next is up to you.

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Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.