John P Wright Breaks Down The New APA Guidelines Stating "Traditional Masculinity" is a Mental Illness

BurntFoot · 2019-01-08T06:22:09+00:00

In case you don't want to read on twitter:

John P Wright

The link below will take you to the new APA guidance document that defines "traditional masculinity" as unhealthy for men. I encourage you to read it and to evaluate its arguments & suggestions. This matters and I will explain why.

https://www.apa.org/about/policy/boys-men-practice-guidelines.pdf

The lives of men are complex, the demands on us taxing, and we all hit points in our lives where direction & support are necessary. In this sense, I'm glad, in the year 2019, that APA is finally paying attention to the needs of men.

Unfortunately, APA's practice guidelines will make it less likely that men will get the help they need. Worst still, if these guidelines are put into therapeutic practice they may harm men and boys. Let me explain.

Evidence of political bias is visible throughout the document. Here's their def of "masculine ideology." Notice they single out "traditional masculinity" as being "anti-femininity; achievement, risk, & adventure focused; violent, & eschewing weakness."

I'll make two points: 1st Defining traditional masculinity in negative terms says a lot about their agenda, after all, risk taking, adventure seeking, and achievement focus has historically provided tremendous social & personal benefits. Conversely, I know of no evidence ....

that shows the absence of these traits to be beneficial to men or to society. Second, the term TRADITIONAL masculinity is code for CONSERVATIVE. They are NOT talking about slackers living in their parent's basement, politically progressive men, or

beta-males (I recognize the redundancy). They are talking about men who likely do NOT hold their political views & labeling them as pathological. Don't believe me. Take a look at the other terms used to frame traditional masculinity.

Yes, oppression, privilege, and gender role conflict frame the discussion around traditional masculinity. Apparently, traditional men enjoy unearned privilege, engage in systematic oppression, and experience role conflicts in relation to power dynamics. Who knew?

Reading through the document you will also see how these terms are connected to the broader feminist conception of patriarchy. Men benefit from, and are victimized by, this omnipotent invisible force that magically shapes their lives.

They go on to cite an edited book, The New Psychology of Men, that allegedly shows how "aggression, competition, status, and emotional stoicism" harms men and is produced through socialization. Indeed, the book appears to be the framework around which the guidelines were built.

Whatever the merits of the book, it does not show that "aggression, competition, status, and stoicism" harms men. The edited volume, published in 1995, takes an overtly feminist position on masculinity, arguing it is socially constructed & patriarchal. Sound familiar?

It is debatable whether boys are socialized qualitatively differently than girls or whether parental socialization has much impact on a male's future masculinity. Science aside, the authors argue that everything about masculinity is socially constructed.

Except its not. A voluminous literature documents the biological differences between men/women that begin in-utero and extend across the life-cycle. These differences are, to some degree, expressed in the psychology of men and women.

But none of that matters. Biology doesn't matter. Neuroscience doesn't matter. Thousands of years of evolution doesn't matter. Everything gets reduced down to gender ideology: Power, privilege, & sexism. These are the defining problems of men, especially traditional men.

I could go on but I want to turn to the consequences of labeling traditional men as toxic. Understand that this document carries the weight of scientific authority. It will be used in the training of clinical psychologists,

it will be used to justify programs that target boys who show signs of impending traditional masculinity, and it will be used to justify restrictive policies towards men. Think of how universities, especially the diversity czars, will use this,

how the courts will use this in custody hearings, and how workplace training and policies will be affected. The @APA has, in essence, justified... no, it has encouraged, discrimination against men who hold traditional views of masculinity.

Will any of this aid in getting men the help they need or, once in the office, with actual counseling? I don't think so. The report states that stoic traditional men are reluctant to enter therapy. Given what the APA thinks of them, can you now blame them?

And how receptive to therapy will stoic traditional men be when a therapist starts yammering about power, privilege, and sexism? I know how I would react & I'm pretty sure I know how other stoic men would respond.

All of this is unfortunate & could have been avoided. Instead of helping men, however, the APA chose to politicize the issue and has thus opened itself to criticisms of anti-male/political bias. Men deserve better than this. We all deserve better than this.

Here's my suggestion APA. Erase the gender ideology. Recognize the good that traditional masculinity has created and that men with varying degrees of masculinity need help. Provide scientifically informed therapies in a gender responsive way. Do this and help men.

explicit_implication · 2019-01-08T15:38:42+00:00

For those who don't know what the APA is...

https://www.apa.org/

This is a big deal. This "traditional masculinity is a mental illness" crap is going to be taught to psychologists, who are going to be thinking "Oh I was taught this in school, it must be right and everyone else is wrong because I spent 4 years learning it!", and who are going to bully teachers into teaching EVERYONE according to these guidelines.

Meanwhile we have Hollywood directors tripping over themselves to cast women in roles where they are superior to all of the men in their films, we have everyone in MSM disregarding or ridiculing the very idea of men's rights, we have #metoo claiming new heads on a daily basis....

Now is not a good time to be a man.

Title	John P Wright Breaks Down The New APA Guidelines Stating "Traditional Masculinity" is a Mental Illness
Author	BurntFoot
Upvotes	8
Comments	5
Date	January 8, 2019 6:13 AM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MGTOW
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MGTOW/comments/adrday/john_p_wright_breaks_down_the_new_apa_guidelines/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MGTOW/john-p-wright-breaks-down-the-new-apa-guidelines.428612 https://theredarchive.com/post/428612

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