I'm starting using the hashtag #MasculineJoy whenever I'm feeling, well, joy and positivity in my masculinity. I'm putting this out into the world as an invite for others to use it too, and to outline a bit about my intentions with that.

It's for those things where you feel masculine and that makes you happy. Whatever that means to you Whether that's cutting down a tree, repairing a car, knocking out some code, or enjoying a spinny skirt, if it causes you to feel happy in and/or about your masculinity, it counts.

I know I don't have the resources to police a hashtag, and honestly I don't want to, but I do want to spell out what it's not, so if nothing else I've been clear about my intentions, and others can share this page as explanation if they agree with them.

The hashtag is not:

• Defining masculinity for anyone but the person posting (and even then, "defining" may be too strong a word).
• Declaring that the poster feels that those with non-masculine identities are in any way wrong if they too enjoy said activity, and/or feel affirmed in their gender when they do the same activity.
• Inviting critique about what the poster enjoys. This is about gender affirming feelings.
• Only to be used by trans-masculine people.

A thought on Toxic Masculinity on the tag:

I don't want to say here "don't be toxic", because.. I can only speak to my experience in the USA, but in our culture (and much of the wider internet) I see men being shut down from enjoying their masculinity in any way, with the phrase "don't be toxic". This is coming from some very good places, and for very good reasons. We need to lift up other voices, no question. The world is sodden with men's opinions, to the point where others aren't heard. So it makes sense that we're being told to shut up. There are many spaces where we should. But I think it is a good idea to give ourselves a little space to just enjoy our masculinity.

I would like to ask people not to be hateful on the tag, to cw as you would for any other post, to not share enjoyment of belittling or abusing people, and to not impose their view of masculinity on others.

Other than that though.. If doing "traditionally masculine" things makes you feel happy with and in your masculinity? There's no reason you shouldn't enjoy that. Our internal sense of masculinity may be informed by some toxic standards, but I think that removing the concept that these experiences are either a requirement of masculinity or exclusive to masculine experience goes a long way to letting us enjoy those things without necessarily reinforcing toxicity.

If seeing masculine people celebrating their masculinity is triggering or upsetting for you, by all means please mute the tag! I don't want to be crowding out other voices, and I don't want to make people unhappy. But if we want to figure out what masculinity looks like moving forward, and let masculine people redefine themselves, we need to let masculine people explore.