This is going to be maybe a little unorthodox for my pill but I don’t think there’s any evidence society actually “demonizes masculinity”. Masculine traits, like assertiveness, confidence, and dominance, are overwhelmingly rewarded by women in dating. For example, women strongly prefer men who are dominant in bed, even to the point of choking or consensual-non-consent, when most men really don’t care for that, me included, and discriminate harshly against men for being “awkward” or “losers”. The go-to insults from women to men usually reference a deficit of masculinity, like insinuating that a man can’t get laid, or that he’s “insecure”. Other men also aren’t innocent in this instance. Men shame each other all the time for being “pussies” or “weak”. Really, masculinity is just as prized as it has always been. Even progressive women want a dominant, masculine guy, often lamenting how few and far between dominant men who share their beliefs are.

What might read as “demonization of masculinity” is really concerns, founded or unfounded, about men harming women. Otherwise masculine men who align themselves with female interests are highly praised and sought after. Women want an otherwise masculine man who never questions or criticizes women, and if a man, regardless of his level of masculinity, calls out women’s behavior or refuses to “know his place”, he’s attacked.