Elliot Rodger and the Price of Toxic Masculinity
I like this post from Dr. Nerdlove. I think he explains very well the toxic attitudes that pervade our culture. MRA and PUA groups are just channeling that toxic attitude. You see it in movies, in commercials, television, all the time: the idea that men are entitled to sex and women are the gatekeepers:
Lets go back to his statement about how hes been denied sex. On the surface, this isnt very different from the complaints that a lot of men have. In fact, I hear similar laments from men all the time; theyre still virgins at 20, 30, 40, even 50 or older and they believe that this means theres something inherently wrong with them. Theyre legitimately in pain, feeling anguish and torment over the fact that theyve never had sex, never seen a woman naked in person, never felt bare skin against theirs or the sweetness of somebody elses lips. But theres a critical difference.
And that difference is all about entitlement, pain and hate. You see it all over the language in Rogers rant; he complains about how hes been snubbed, about how hes been denied sex, about how hes been judged unworthy despite being the supreme gentleman and a true alpha male. He says that if he cant have them, then the only thing left to do is to destroy them. In other videos from his YouTube channel, he complains about how unfair it is that women dont like him, despite all the effort hes put in...
...Because that is exactly what the cultural narrative of masculinity says: that manhood is inherently tied to sex. A mans coming of age is linked to becoming sexually active as early as possible. In fact, the idea of man as sexual being is so ingrained that a man who was sexually assaulted as a child is seen as being that much more manly and potent. If Chris Brown can get laid at 8, what does that mean for you if you cant get laid at 15? At 17? At 20? The older you get, the more terrifying it becomes to reveal that youre a virgin surely this means that somethings wrong with you, right? It becomes a self-reinforcing loop of negative feedback youre still a virgin because youre inherently damaged somehow and therefore other people wont sleep with you so you stay a virgin for longer. And as a result: Youre not a man. Youre defective. The Red Pill forum of Reddit is all about dividing the world up into alphas people whove taken the Red Pill, whove woken themselves up to the manipulations of women and have taken back control to prove that theyre real, virile men and betas sexless losers who suck up to women in hopes of getting a whiff of sex. PUAHate is full of men raging because theyre incomplete, about how theyll never be real men because of how women deny them what theyre due.
More
http://www.doctornerdlove.com/2014/05/elliot-rodger-price-toxic-masculinity/