This is the second part of a two-part article. Part 1 can be found here.

“This brings me to a final value of tonic masculinity as I see it emerging. And that is the work to be done of restoring harmony between the sexes, to return relations in the nuclear family and local community to a degree of genuinely democratic responsibility and caring for the other.”

Brazil is plural... There are those who still see masculinity as a Tarzan archetype, which must be rescued. …Many people (especially women) criticise traditional masculinity, but reinforce it.

I want to argue in favor of what I term tonic masculinity and what a dose of it might provide society to dispel some of the mystifications and often ironic ambiguities about sex and gender.

The male has been designed to “look”, not only at the female, but to “look out” for prey, for danger, and for ways to protect his family unit.

If his child is allowed to live, this man must be available, for the rest of his life, to love and provide for his child… If, on the other hand, it is decided that his child is to be destroyed, he should be able to go about his life as if nothing has happened

…an attack upon masculinity is an attack upon one’s sense of self, of identity. …What, then, is the right psychological defence against such an attack?

For years male rape has been shown as comedy, in films to TV shows, so much that it’s now a cliché. It even appears in children’s cartoon shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants

The underlying assumptions made in the advert are that men are inherently bad – men are violent, sexual predators who have had their way for long enough. Only through the power of encouragement and social grooming can we protect society from the menace that is toxic masculinity.