When Twitter first replaced its star button with a heart I thought absolutely nothing of it. I wonder what sort of research they conducted that brought them to believe the like instead of the favorite would be a worthwhile change to their website, but that was about it. It recently came to my attention that not all people took the new feature as minor change, more specifically some men felt this feature made them gay. As absurd as that might sound, it was brought to my attention by a tumblr post showcasing tweets by men. These tweets are saying that new heart feature makes men no longer able to like another guys tweets.
These four screenshots were posted on the tumblr along with the caption "masculinity is so fragile":
These are just a few examples of men not liking the new feature I happened to stumble across while scrolling through my tumblr newsfeed. I'm sure there are many more tweets just like those on twitter if you seek it out. While I recognize that not all men share this sentiment it is very fascinating that some do. Society teaches men that something as simple as a heart is reserved for females and females only. I believe this bizarre apprehension is indicative of a bigger problem in society where men are told they are not entitled to their emotions. Men are told they must behave like "real men" and never cry. They are told any signs of femininity are a weakness and directly related to their sexuality. One's sexual orientation should never be categorized as insult. Sadly, with the society we live in some people still use gay, amongst other homophobic slurs, as negative terms.
I would like to say it is shocking some men have reacted negatively to the Twitter hearts, as soon as I read those tweets I felt dumb for not seeing it coming. I understood that this is a problem deeply rooted in societal constructs. It is prominent in many aspects of our culture and has been for a long time now. From a very young age men are exposed to the male gender box. They are told they must do certain things in order to fit into this box and prove their masculinity to the world. These are called gender norms are frequently enforced by peers, parents, society, and often times themselves. The policing that takes place can range from friends calling each other names to maybe even getting beaten by one's own father all in the name of manliness.
It is sad to see a young boy be told he cannot explore a certain talent or passion because it is girly. Or a man afraid to admit he wants to wait until marriage to have sex because that must mean he's gay. Or a young teenager with no one to confide in about his depression so he feels he has to resort to the extreme of suicide. Forcing men into a genderbox is not healthy for males or females. It often times perpetuates a personality of hyper masculinity which result in a whole plethora of violent issues. Domestic violence, gun violence, rape, and other crimes are some of those issues just to name a few.
Of course not all men are affected to this extent or affected at all by gender norms, but for those who it does hinder from becoming their true selves it can be very damaging. Masculinity is not always a bad thing, in fact, very frequently it is a good thing. My point is, men should be allowed to be whatever they want to be, including masculine if that is them being their best selves. No one should have the right to tell someone what personality traits, interests or lifestyle choices they can and cannot make in order to fit societal norms. Something as simple as a heart on the internet should not be a threat to a man's self worth. Men should be allowed to feel just as entitled to their emotions as women. Men should not be stereotyped and ridiculed for not fitting society's definition of manhood. The new twitter hearts should not stop men from enjoying their friends tweets.
