Masculinity manifests itself in various archetypes we are all familiar with. Three easy ones to identify are the "warrior" (the desire to be strong, dependable, courageous); the "king", (the desire to be admired, to bestow opportunities for others, to make things happen, to protect people around you) and the "magician" (the desire to be knowledgeable/talented).

Each of these archetypes is a journey. Take The Warrior archtype.We are not born pure warriors, it is something we slowly work on over the course of our lives. We reflect to view our failings and missteps and try a little harder each time. It's a journey we as men are all on, all the time whether we like it or not.

Of course, with every ideal, there are ways to fail that ideal. Each archetype of masculinity has it's pure form and it's failings. This are where the "shadow manifestations" of the archtype come in. If Goku is the pure warrior, Vegeta is the shadow warrior. One is calm, collected, fights only to test himself and protect others, feels thrilled at the discovery of stronger opponents, helps those weaker than him become stronger. The other is insecure, fights to dominate, feels incredibly insecure at the idea of someone being stronger than him, and gloats to those around him who are weaker.

Here we can see clearly what the cause of the shadow manifestation is: It is the failure to develop the masculine spirit to it's highest degree. Goku and Vegeta are both coming from the exact same place in the end: that of a warrior. The difference between them is that Goku's warrior spirit is much more developed than Vegeta's is.

Now, forgetting everything I just said, feminism has stepped in and presented us it's own framework with which to view masculinity. "Toxic masculinity". Basically, some attributes mostly found among men are toxic and should be removed. The cause for this is has jumped around over the years. This alone should be proof that they have no idea what they're talking about, but regardless lets continue. The current reason seems to be "society pressures men to be this way". First of all this is absolutely wrong - society does not teach men to be this way at all. One needs only look at the hero of almost every movie, TV show, comic, story ever written. Are Harry Potter, Captain America, Goku, Luffy, Doctor Who, Spiderman, Gandalf, Frodo, Rocky.. are these all toxic men?

And because their reason for the existence of these toxic traits is so simplistic, their solution is course equally simplistic, in fact it is downright braindead: "We need to encourage healthy masculinity and discourage toxic masculinity". This is nothing more than saying "Be good, don't be bad". How can one exist without the other? The moment you've defined something, some set of qualities to be "good", you've automatically defined things outside this box to be, at the very least, not as good. It simply doesn't make sense on a very fundamental level to say "don't be toxic, be healthy". It is a complete and utter useless thing to say.

Instead of "how can we stop men from being toxic", which is about as useful a question as "how can we have only perfect men in the world", a better question to ask is: "How can we guide men along the path of developing their masculinity". And the answer is simple: Strong male role models. Having male role models in our lives gives us the vision of how to be a man. And if you want proof that this is the key, you only need think about which kinds of men have the most "toxic masculinity" about them... it's young men, devoid of male models (ie no father figures, no male community figures). These young men are often in a gang which at that point is just a vicious spiral: Their only contact with masculinity is the other undeveloped members of their group.

And what's the absolute best thing one can do for these men? It is NOT to quell their masculinity spirit, it is it encourage it. Get them in a boxing club, a martial arts lesson, a gym; hell, even joining the army seems to help. Because for the first time in their lives the men are presented with strong male role models to guide their masculinity.

The solution to the shadow manifestations of masculinity is not to say "don't be like that", because at the end of it all that shadow manifestation was merely trying to be the pure form in the first place. The man who shoulders more than he can bear to the point of his own destruction was only trying to channel the noble trait of stoicism and mastery of emotions. The man who is quick to show off his strength and dominate others was only trying to be recognised for being a strong warrior. The man who puts others down and tries to dominate was only trying to channel his inner King. The man who uses women for sex was only trying to be a man that is attractive to women.

It is impossible to say "don't be toxic, be healthy, because you simply can't have one without the other. That's a useless way to look at the whole thing. The "solution" feminists need is more masculinity in the world: More fathers in homes, more male teachers, more "boys clubs", fraternities, brotherhoods etc. More boxing clubs, more competitive sports in schools.

If masculinity is degraded, as it has been for some time, these "toxic" elements will only continue to grow. Because without the male role models men vitally need, they will be stuck in the shadow manifestations of masculinity with no chance of escape.