Rethinking the Psychoanalysis of Masculinity : From Toxic to Seminal

Drawing on a broad range of psychoanalytic, cultural and social influences, the author examines the concept of toxic masculinity for how it brings into focus a widespread anxiety about toxicity throughout daily life: In nature, society and personal relationships. Aggressive, misogynistic masculinity has become a major topic in recent years, spreading throughout popular culture, the media and research.Often called 'phallic,' it simmers in everyday life and hits the headlines for turning florid and violent in maintaining its dominance, especially towards women.But at the extreme, phallic masculinity has recently crystallized in a very different form, as toxic masculinity, and 'toxic' has become the near-universal epithet for all forms of extreme destructiveness in a 'toxic culture.' It has brought into focus, and named as masculine, an anxiety over toxicity in every corner of everyday life.Exploring toxic masculinity in depth brings out a misogynistic current that pervades individual and