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One of the primary rules of business is: “Don’t alienate your customers.  In the interests of general wokeness, Gillette, makers of obscenely overpriced shaving products, did just that, and in the most egregious manner imaginable:

These are difficult times for men.  Merely being male is evidence of “toxic masculinity,” which is defined as merely being male, unless one is male and identifies as something else, then they’re no longer toxic, but heroic.

The American Psychological Association just alienated some 50% of its customer base, as The Washington Times reports: 

APA’s new Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Boys and Men strive to recognize and address these problems in boys and men while remaining sensitive to the field’s androcentric past. Thirteen years in the making, they draw on more than 40 years of research showing that traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful and that socializing boys to suppress their emotions causes damage that echoes both inwardly and outwardly. [skip]

Clinicians are encouraged to recognize their own biases when dealing with males, the ‘integrated nature of masculinity,’ and ways that power, privilege, and sexism work both by conferring benefits to men and by trapping them in narrow roles.

credit: paulspoop.blogspot.com

That’s right, gentle readers: being male, even worse, acting male, is mental illness.  If this sounds like standard, lunatic feminist, leftist, pussy hatted/vagina costume wearing, man-hating drivel, that’s because it is.  However, this particular drivel should convince parents of boys, and men in general, to avoid psychologists like the plague.  There’s an old assertion that people go into psychology because they want to diagnose their own craziness.  Now we have proof.

On university campuses, we learn that all men are rapists, women never lie, and that even when they do, all men are rapists anyway, because they’re men.  Just ask Joe “double barreled shotgun” Biden: 

We know the numbers: one in five of every one of those young women who is dropped off for that first day of school, before they finish school, will be assaulted, will be assaulted in her college years.’

–Vice President Biden, remarks on the release of a White House report on sexual assault, April 29, 2014

Ignore the fact that if parents, to say nothing of young women, actually believed there was a 20%–some claim the risk is even higher—chance they’d be raped, few, if any, would attend college, because all men are rapists, and Joe Biden said so, and he would know because he’s very, very close to women.

Of course, he’s a leftist, so he’s immune from toxic masculinity despite liking to swim and cavort about nude in front of the female members of his Secret Service detail. 

Another issue that needs to be addressed with Biden is the allegations that he repeatedly got naked in front of female Secret Service agents who found his behavior to be highly offensive.

And there are so many choices for former men—pajama boys, metrosexuals, gen Xers, millennials, trans this or that, etc., it’s impossible to keep up.

The worst kind of toxic masculinity is white male toxic masculinity because it’s privileged toxic masculinity and inherently oppressive to anyone and everything that is not white male, even goldfish, particularly female goldfish.

It is with this societal backdrop that Gillette decided, on an anniversary of it’s advertising slogan “Gillette—The best a man can get,” to produce a sort of infomercial informing men they are scum and they’d better shape up, because, in their words:

Because we–we believe in the best in men.

Their infomercial depicts men as mindless primitives, excusing all manner of horrific behavior by saying “boys will be boys,” as in the screenshot I’ve taken the liberty of satirizing.  In that brief scene, we have a line of men committing the horrific male offense of cooking things on an outdoor grill, while chanting in unison “boys will be boys.”  What more proof of toxic masculinity does one need?

Being male myself (I know: I looked), and therefore hopelessly toxic and living under a rock, I am, nonetheless, mildly annoyed, though not at all surprised, by this example of corporate virtue signaling.  It is a particularly odd time for them to “come out” as the company of girly-men everywhere when a good number of companies are marketing perfectly good razors and blades at a fraction of the price of Gillette products, eating into their market share.  In such a climate what should any smart company do?  That’s right: piss off their customers.

I’m rather old fashioned in an endearingly toxic way.  Experience has taught me both genders—yes, there are but two (see how old fashioned I am?)—are equally capable of all manner of stupid, even criminal behavior. One might infer this by the existence of women’s prisons if one weren’t so busy screaming about toxic masculinity, which everyone knows is toxic, and masculine.

Experience has also taught me men and women are—gasp!—different. They think differently, act differently, have different interests and different strengths.  It is these differences that make them complimentary, that allow them to support each other, love each other, and procreate, making even more toxic males.

I’m also old fashioned enough to think people—female and toxic male—should be judged on their character, or lack thereof.  They should work as their interests and abilities dictate. There are fewer women than men in STEM fields because fewer women than men are interested in such things, not because women are incapable of excellence in those fields.  But of course, everyone—which includes the manufacturers of ridiculously overpriced shaving utensils–knows women are excluded from such things only because of toxic masculinity and not buying enough razors and blades from a company that thinks men barbarians.

True, men do have some odd ideas.  They actually think they have an obligation to protect women and children.  They believe when disaster strikes, it’s their job to help the weak and helpless. They’re toxic enough to think they have a duty to defend democracy, to save the world when necessary, and to—in considerable part—build and maintain western civilization.  They also think they have to love and cherish their wives and daughters, and teach their sons to be good men.  And get this: they dare to think many of our problems are due to men who won’t act as men, fathering numerous children by multiple mothers, and accepting no responsibility for raising them.

They think being male is about strength, courage, responsibility, doing what’s right, honor, duty, honesty and sincerity.  They believe, toxic though they be, there is no conflict in those virtues and in kindness and tenderness.  Real men cry when there is reason, but also control it when it would not be helpful.

 Real men would love to catch a rapist in the act so they could lawfully “bring them to justice.”  Real men think anyone that mistreats women, children or animals ought to be “brought to justice”—repeatedly and with great enthusiasm—and thrown in the deepest, dankest hole imaginable, and in an act of enlightened penology, the key should be thrown away.  Real men give of their time, energy and resources to help others, particularly women.

Real men think that for casting couch, parasitical vermin like Harvey Weinstein, no punishment is sufficiently severe, though they can think of several good ones.  They, like his female Secret Service detail, are not too fond of Joe Biden either.

I, like innumerable men—and some good women—decided long ago that I would willingly give my life to protect women, actually, anyone. Most first responders–tragically, male–have done the same, which is, I suppose, evidence that those men and I are particularly toxic.  Additional evidence of my toxicity is my multiple oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution.  The horror.

As for Gillette, one can only hope “get woke, go broke” is more true than figurative.  Those virtue-signaling girly men just may discover the free market can do quite well without them.  Their employees will be able to find work at the razor companies that replace/displace them. Perhaps they can learn that manufacturers of consumer goods should stick to business and leave trying to impress simpering ninnies that would throw them under the bus in a millisecond should it be politically advantageous, to politicians and leftist cracktivists.

I use an electric razor almost exclusively, but I’ve never taken an oath to ensure Gillette stays in business.  I suspect I’m not alone in that.