Feminists demonize masculinity and describe hypermasculinity as bad for men and deadly. Well, that's all bullshit. Being masculine actually can be a great thing for men.

In fact, research shows negative perceptions of masculinity is linked to worse mental health in men, and the phrase toxic masculinity could contribute to men perceiving masculinity that way. A meta-analysis of 58 studies from 1978 to 2021 found that while androgyny was the biggest protective factor against depression for both men and women, being undifferentiated (i.e.: normative) was the least likely to be a protective factor. Masculinity was a strong protective factor against depression for both men and women and femininity was slightly a protective factor against depression for women and both male and female college students, but that protective factor from femininity only began to emerge with the slow increase in the national education and income index from 1990 to 2019. However, as life expectancy has increased, this negative correlation between masculinity and depression has become less significant, but it's still moderately correlated and thus still a moderate protective factor against depression. They believe it's possible that back when life expectancies were lower, masculine people were less likely to admit to depression, but this might not be plausible given that masculinity was associated with less depression not only for men, but women, too, and women's feelings receive more empathy. The traits of masculinity measured include self-confidence, perseverance, standing up for oneself under pressure, competitiveness, independence, etc. Research has often overlooked that masculinity and femininity were positively correlated because social support and help seeking was labeled as feminine traits to be measured, and these traits were associated with a protection of a confident, masculine outlook backed up by social support and help seeking behaviors. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean men need to just get therapists. Men prefer doing something about the problem, whereas women prefer talking about the issue. Group therapy between men with goal-oriented tasks and activities tend to be more helpful for men than talk therapy and this is often due to evolutionary/biological reasons rather than socialization.

That can also be why masculine men don't seek social support alongside society being dismissive towards men suffering and these men dealing with society's mean gender roles toward men. It's not that they're refusing to get help when society offers help just to be manly. Femininity was measured as gentleness, helpfulness, etc. Among male college students, femininity was a protective factor against depression and was correlated positively with masculinity for this reason. People who scored low on both masculinity and femininity (undifferentiated) was more likely to be depressed. Androgynous people, however, were not actually androgynous. They scored high on both masculinity and femininity and I already elaborated on how they measured masculine and feminine traits and how they both help when these traits are combined together.

This study found that certain masculine traits, like winning or emotional control was associated with health benefits for men but other traits, like self-reliance, recklessness, playboy behavior, and power against women) were associated with health-risk behaviors. This study found men who perceived themselves as more masculine were far more likely to have better mental health, have better emotional control, have high high confidence, have high ability to take risks, be married, have a college degree, lack depression, have good relationship quality, have a good body image, be happy, be satisfied with life and be rich. They also were more likely to have been aggressive, take advantage of others, take charge, or enjoy fights. There's some negative aspects but far more positive aspects. Nonetheless, these men were talking about whether they view themselves as masculine rather than objective masculinity. This study found 4 categories: extreme hypermasculinity (characterized by medium dominance/aggression, somewhat higher sexual identity, and very high anti-femininity or devaluation of emotions), traditional masculine (characterized by medium dominance/aggression, and somewhat lower anti-femininity attitudes and somewhat lower sexual identity), traditional hypermasculine (characterized by higher dominance/aggression, higher sexual identity, and somewhat higher anti-feminine attitudes and somewhat higher devaluation of emotion), and non-hypermasculinity (low scores on all of those traits). Non-hypermasculine scored the lowest on hostility toward women and depression. Traditional hypermasculine and extreme hypermasculine scored higher on hostility toward women and depression. Traditional masculine men scored in the middle of the two measures. Extreme hypermasculine score higher on self esteem whereas the other 3 were similar on self-esteem. The traditional hypermasculine group had a disproportionate rate of fraternity members.

Handgrip strength associated with better life outcomes for men.

Men experience scored lower on fear, anxiety and emotional dependence than women, and the reason had to do with differences in physical strength.

Two studies found that differences in physical strength accounted for why men are less fearful or anxious than women. This study by Nicholas Kerry and Damian Murray found that because women score higher than men on neuroticism (a big 5 personality trait), it was due to differences in grip strength between men and women. They found that gender differences between men and women on the anxiety facet of Neuroticism was explained by differences in grip strength. This means that it did not account for differences in overall neuroticism, but the anxiety facet of neuroticism. This other study also found that the gender differences between men and women in anxiety were explained by grip strength differences. Cross-national research has shown that women in all countries scored higher than men on all 4 facets of emotionality, and the gender difference was bigger in rich, egalitarian countries except the honesty-humility facet. In a study of 1,399 undergraduates at 4 universities, the researchers found that grip strength accounted for more than half of the gender difference in fearfulness. In fact, the 8% of women who were stronger than the average man were less fearful than the 22% most fearful men. In two of the 5 samples, grip strength completely explained the gender experience, and when controlling for it, the gender difference was entirely gone. It did not explain the difference in sentimentality, but explained a considerable portion of the gender difference in anxiety and emotional dependence.

Handgrip strength tends to be evolutionarily beneficial for men.

Another finding is that differences in handgrip strength was correlated with promiscuity, shoulder-to-hip ratio, age at first intercourse, and aggressive behavior in men but not women when studying college students. In a meta-analysis, handgrip strength in men was correlated positively with facial attractiveness, self-perceived mate value, walking style attractiveness, dance quality attractiveness, hunting reputation (among hunter gatherers), number of sex partners, male typical body morphology (shoulder-to-hip ratio), self-reported popularity, number of children, self-reported aggression, self-perceived fighting ability and facial dominance/facial aggression. Handgrip strength in men was negatively correlated with being victimized by others and handgrip strength was associated with earlier age of first intercourse. This study found among Spanish teens that fighting ability and physical aggression were associated with each other for boys, but this relationship decreased with age. By late adolescence, fighting ability and anger become linked together for boys, which means their aggression strategy shifted from physical to nonphysical with age. Among late adolescent girls (ages 17/18), fighting ability and aggression have no association together.

Muscularity leads to better mental health for men.

A study of 9,000 adults had them squeeze a gripper to measure their maximum strength. For every additional 5kg that a man can grip, their risk of suicidal ideation decreases by 16%. A meta-analysis of 21 studies from 26 countries and past 80,000 participants found that muscular strength is associated with less depression among adults.

Jocks in high school and college tend to fare better in life, debunking the "peaked in high school" myth.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not the jocks who fare worse in life. It's the outcasts and bullying victims. A 2001 study found that young adults who were jocks in high school, despite higher levels of drinking, had less social isolation, lower suicide attempts, low depression and high self-esteem at age 24. The people who identified as the princess in high school (i.e.: popular girl) had neither worse nor better outcomes in life than others, but the smart people and jocks fared the best and criminal teens fared the worst. This study also found that sports involvement had more associated with drinking but better academic achievements, and that jocks and popular girls did not fare worse academically, and many went to college. The criminal students fared way worse than anyone else. Jocks also were more likely to be fit and in shape as adults, had better jobs in the future, earned more money as adults than band geeks and yearbook staff, and had lower self-harm or suicidality rates. College athletes also had better wellbeing and job success later in life, but less physical wellbeing if they played football/basketball, presumably due to concussions, joint issues, diabetes, etc. This study also found that college jocks earned more than their peers, including the nerds, and had more prestigious jobs, even if they came from socioeconomically diverse sports teams or joined teams with lower academic thresholds. The only disadvantage is they were slightly less likely to be picked for research/data analysis skills. Jocks in high school also self-harmed less and had less suicidality whereas teens in alternative subcultures (like goth, emo or punk) were more likely to self-harm or have suicidality. Middle school and high school jocks both had better grades, too. In fact, being an athlete without labeling oneself as a jock for boys was only associated with the winning masculine stereotype, whereas identifying as a jock was associated with most of the 5 masculine stereotypes measured (including being a playboy).

Conclusions

Hypermasculinity can be good for men. This doesn't mean we should force it on men or ridicule them for defying masculine traits, but we should not demonize masculinity either. Masculinity can be about being aggressive to protect others and be assertive and fighting back, or being able to handle life struggles (although we shouldn't condemn people if they continue to suffer due to their struggles in life), or being muscular, or being able to get a relationship. Nonetheless, men who fail to conform to these traits should not be ridiculed, and if they experience distress from being able to achieve these goals, we can help them figure out how to achieve them.

Masculinity is not necessarily about being a violent person in general or being a womanizer or being reckless or being mean.