This is my first encounter with the term, so forgive me if I’m using it wring, but it feels like this convo was literally motte and bailey’d.
Op: don’t link testosterone and violence - the real problem is toxic masculinity not testosterone a thing all men have.
Someone: you’re not doing this, but toxic masculinity is a motte and bailey
Someone else: no it’s a well defined idea
You, moving the goalpost: how the term is used socially it is
If someone is using the term as you suggested, by all means call out their actions. But if they are not - as op did - why bring this up?
Personally I find the idea of toxic masculinity a useful tool to understand and categorize the things society is telling me i should aspire to, many of which are harmful to who I am personally
I thought the convo was: OP made an otherwise valid, neutral point, then bundled in a defense of a hotly contested phrase, purporting to tell us what it "really" means. jbboehr responded that this was a motte-and-bailey. UncleMeat was like, no it's not, so I tried clarifying what I thought jbboehr was getting at.
Op: don’t link testosterone and violence - the real problem is toxic masculinity not testosterone a thing all men have.
Someone: you’re not doing this, but toxic masculinity is a motte and bailey
Someone else: no it’s a well defined idea
You, moving the goalpost: how the term is used socially it is
If someone is using the term as you suggested, by all means call out their actions. But if they are not - as op did - why bring this up?
Personally I find the idea of toxic masculinity a useful tool to understand and categorize the things society is telling me i should aspire to, many of which are harmful to who I am personally