JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE USE OF LANGUAGE BY SOME GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER WRITERS IS TIRESOME AND RATHER OFFENSIVE - THE CASE OF "TOXIC MASCULINITY"

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY GUY LODGE IN THE GUARDIAN

How Phantom Thread undresses our ideas about toxic masculinity

"...undresses our ideas about toxic masculinity"

Well, I don't quite know how to describe language like that.

"Undresses ideas"? Now, there's a fairly desperate grab for a fresh phrase. Trouble is, it is meaningless.

Bizarre might be the most generous for the entire expression.

I just wonder whether writers and editors at the Guardian have give any real thought to the expression, "toxic masculinity," itself.

I actually think it is somewhat offensive, clearly carrying a kind of prejudice, but it is used fairly regularly in the paper.

At the very least, the phrase displays no understanding of human realities.

The truth is that people who are highly aggressive - whether sexually or in a business context or any other way - are a product of nature, not choice or through training. Their qualities are no more changeable than blue eyes or short height.

And note, I say "persons" because there very definitely are women of this nature. I've certainly come across some. Genes make some people physical gorillas or emotional lambs.