this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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TIL Teddy Roosevelt's dad was cold and distant.
Somewhere there was an article I quite liked that basically said, in the quest to discard toxic masculinity, a lot of modern US culture has also turned against the idea of nontoxic masculinity. Like if someone likes man stuff then there's automatically something wrong with them.
I don't know enough about Teddy Roosevelt to say for sure, but I suspect he was just a big boisterous person which is fine. If we find out he secretly beat his wife or was a womanizer or something then sure, but to me my rough impression is that he was anything but unemotional or evil and just had a good time with his life.
It's pretty fucked up. I really enjoy a lot of traditionally manly pursuits. Hunting, fishing, building, grilling, doing stupid drunk shit in the woods, and a bunch of others. You know who the majority of people are who do those things (at least in my experience)? It's either guys who don't really enjoy it but pretend to because they think it makes them masculine or guys who also enjoy the manly pursuits of owning their wives and yelling about how the South will rise again. I'm not really into either of those things. I just like to have a good time.
I know who I get lumped in with and why. There's a lot of overlap between me and toothless hillbillies. I yee a bunch of motherfucking haws. And I'm sad that all this stuff that's legitimately fun if you're the type that enjoys it is looked at as though it's a problem simply for existing and not because of the kinds of idiots that take part in it.
Young Teddy was very much not athletic, in fact he was sickly and asthmatic. Over time he literally remade himself and overcame his early health issues. Getting into heavy duty physical activity and using that to overcome early challenges probably was a hell of a lot of fun, and it was continuing the process of self-improvement that made his life so much better to begin with.
He was told he couldn't join the cavalry because his eyes were so bad that he needed glasses, and if he fell off the horse they'd get lost or broken.
So Teddy bought a vest with a bunch of pokets, filled them all with glasses, and considered the matter solved.
Makes sense. And yeah. That's non toxic masculinity (or, whatever you want to call it, the gender-neutral term). It's okay to want to overcome real challenge and feel like you're strong and capable and test yourself. In some circles it is even encouraged.