This opinion piece appeared in my local paper the other day. I was surprised to see an argument with some empathy for boys and acknowledging the need to allow them space to join the conversation about sexual harassment, etc.

Also condemns the recent incident at Brauer College:

... the lens through which we view sexual assault remains trained on the victim-perpetrator paradigm.

We must be conscious that just blaming men will not keep women safe.

While well intentioned, the recent example of a school in regional Victoria that forced all of its male students to stand up in assembly to apologise to their female counterparts was grossly inappropriate.

The writer of the piece runs programs in schools to talk with boys about masculinity (not sure of the overall effect of these types of programs - I've heard both good and bad things).

I found it interesting that he points out the damage of vocabulary like TM to the boys he works with:

We hear from young men that phrases like “toxic masculinity” and “#allmen” make it difficult for them to find safe entry into this highly nuanced and emotionally charged conversation.

And yet, you've got people in the comments insisting that the term is misunderstood, that there's nothing wrong with it. What is with the desire of people to defend this little piece of vocabulary so much? Here you've got someone who literally works with boys telling you that it's not helpful, and they want to argue with him that it's misunderstood.

The solution lies in giving young men the safe space and opportunity to stop talking themselves up, and start talking themselves in.