Over the past decade, we’ve heard a lot about “toxic” masculinity, or how certain masculine behaviors are dangerous. What we haven’t discussed, though, are the behaviors involved in “healthy” masculinity.
TikTok creator Mohammed Farhan is using his platform to explain why certain behaviors are so problematic.
One example Farhan uses is gaining consent before participating in sexual activity. An often-used excuse is “Asking for consent ruins the mood.” Actually, it doesn’t.
Consent is thoughtful and kind, two things that are always sexy.
Farhan’s posts are short and to-the-point, relaying one important message related to feminism, equality and toxic masculinity. His videos have gained so much popularity that his account has grown to 65K followers since he posted his first video on Muslim faith in April 2021.
Farhan’s biggest post so far addresses how men often thing 18 is this ~*~magical~*~ number when a girl becomes a woman overnight.
Hate to break it to you, it’s not magical. It’s super creepy and rooted in toxic masculinity.
Again, 18 is a very arbitrary number. And according to research, young women are not psychosocially developed by the time they hit 18.
From a 2019 NIHMS study:
“Importantly, whereas cognitive capacity reached adult levels around age 16, psychosocial maturity reached adult levels beyond age 18, creating a “maturity gap” between cognitive and psychosocial development. Juveniles may be capable of deliberative decision making by age 16, but even young adults may demonstrate “immature” decision making in arousing situations.”
Another viral post of his received nearly 800K views and 320K likes. The clip is a response to men who throw out hitting women whenever gender equality is brought up.
Seriously, though. What kind of sociopath has ‘hitting women’ at the top of their mind?
“We should also work to build a culture where men hold other men accountable for the perpetuation of rape culture we have become accustomed to,” Farhan said in an interview with Bored Panda.
Through TikTok, Farhan is helping society to unlearn those habits through countering common actions and phrases rooted in toxic masculinity. Take for example, how women are often blamed and vilified when nude images are stolen from them. The blame is rarely placed on the person leaking the images.
“As men, a lot of us have to unlearn these damaging habits. As men, we have to play an active role if we want to see change.”
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