I don't see why it's not completely obvious the difference between having a hysterical reaction to something vs. a neutral one.
As a social scientist, I'd like to better understand where all the emotion is coming from, because it's not logical, and that's something that is impeding progress in our culture. If some men are viscerally opposed to doing things that might save their lives (and that would make the culture better for the rest of us), and they don't even know why they feel that aversion, we can't reason with them or get any of those improvements under way. I agree that we can't magically transform everything overnight, but it is possible (as seen in history) to begin shifts in attitudes that alter how we think and behave that in turn improve things.
Male depression, substance abuse, and suicide are at high levels. A whole lot of that is driven by these Man Box demands. Study after study, expert after expert (96% of studies by one accounting) make a direct correlation between poor mental health in men and these destructive beliefs about how a guy has to act in order to be "a real man." The reason I care is because that sort of deep denial stands in the way of a slightly saner, less violent, less isolating culture - and I'd prefer to live in one of those, for myself and for my son.
"Young men’s mental health is in a worrisome state. Their bravado masks deep insecurities, depression, and frequent thoughts of suicide. Men in the Man Box in the US and UK are statistically significantly more likely to meet a screening standard for depression than men outside the Man Box. Furthermore, all young men’s rates of suicidal ideation are troubling, with particularly high rates among men in the Man Box.
The Man Box is an enormously violent place, with negative repercussions for young men themselves, for young women, and for others in their lives. Men in the Man Box in the US and UK are as much as six or seven times more likely to report having perpetrated acts of online or physical bullying against male peers than men outside the Man Box. Men in the Man Box in Mexico are also three times more likely than their peers outside the Man Box to report having perpetrated sexual harassment. In the US and UK, men in the Man Box are six times more likely to report perpetrating sexual harassment."
