It drives me bonkers, too. Unfortunately, this is the whole raison d’etre for FOX News. They live to twist others’ words into misleading and provocative statements.

This. I was at a panel discussion with one of my bosses about terrorism, mass shootings and gender and one of the panelist’s brought up toxic masculinity and discussing it after with my boss, who’s a guy in his 50s, liberal and well educated, and he had totally misunderstood the meaning until I explained to him what…

yeee, she obviously doesn’t have a clue what toxic masculinity is, so her response isn’t terribly offensive. Much better than Streisand’s comments on the MJ abusers a few months back.

Oh yikes. That’s pretty bad, Meryl. Whether intentional or trying to bullshit her way out of answering a question about something she didn’t know/understand, it’s pretty bad.

I tell my husband all the time that things won’t get better for MEN unless they start standing up for themselves when it comes to taking time off for sick kids and school events. Part of the problem is the older male generation, who absolutely do not see any reason for men to take time off for their children. Can’t…

I agree. In some ways this seems analogous to changing the “bro culture” in tech companies to make women feel that they belong—it’s easy to say “just ignore” all the messaging around you, but in practice people don’t go where they don’t feel wanted.

I think you’re missing the point. The goal isn’t to make guys feel welcome as an end in itself, but because it could have a positive effect on the mother and child. Sometimes, if you’re trying to get someone to change their behavior, empathy is exactly what you need.

Nope, men are trying to take away our reproductive rights so we’ll be trapped at home with babies and out of the workplace. They want to go back to the time when women “knew their place” and that place was at home. They want to leave all that baby rearing to us while the men work and provide and control every aspect…

Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of babies being automatically associated with women. It’s bad enough our careers suffer because we’re the primary care givers when kids get sick.

Specifically obstetrician’s offices are, from my experience, very different. I’ve been to three in the Los Angeles area and they were all decorated in soft pinks and creams, the only art on the walls was either flowers or mothers and children and all the magazines were “Mothering” and “Babytalk” this and that.

Many years ago, I read “advice” in Cosmo about how to make men care about childcare. The best approach? Tell your husband that being an involved father is attractive and sexy, his kids will love him for it, and they’ll be more likely to look up to him.

Neither do I. It doesn’t sound like these changes are being made at the expense of women—photos and reading materials aimed at men are being provided in addition to those aimed at women, not in place of them. One thing that is not changing as fast as it should is the assumption that women rule the domestic sphere and…

I get the author’s frustration, in that a number of men kinda assume they don’t really need to do much until the baby is out, or even until the baby is walking.

Yeah I’m tired of shitting on things that can make things better. If targeting men helps men be more engaged let’s do that. Bitching and saying men should just care isn’t going to change a thing.

Any little step counts and frankly there’s nothing wrong with making people feel welcome. Men in the United States are generally not expected to take much interest in raising their children beyond providing for the family and being the “fun” parent. 

I also felt needlessly shamed by that sentence.

It’s actually a more complicated legal matter.

I love that Ellen was able to come forward, and I HATE that some homophobic fucktard is going to use this as "that's why people become gay."

“ I want other girls to not ever let someone do that.”

Joannie, baby! Have they put you on staff? Yours is the deliciously venomous quill Dirt Bag needs. Brava.