Our fresh masculinity – why it’s problematic

Article here. Excerpt:

'We live in an age of rigidly defined gender roles. And, as Harry Noad so ably pointed out, one of those archetypes has been more pervasive than any other: that of the alpha male. Not the intellectually-refined, considerate, sophisticated gentleman – but the ‘hulking troglodyte of old’; the tough, physically dominant patriarch.
So far, so good. Well – so far, so true. Hegemonic masculinity is indeed ‘lad culture’ writ large, and for most people it’s not particularly appealing. The problem, however, runs far deeper than this. The problem is not that we dislike the consequences of our own idealism. The problem is that to hold ideals about gender roles at all is destined to cause trouble at every turn.
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Perhaps the point is that we should stop obliging people to fit at all. It’s the 21st century – we don’t need to strive towards making our sons better men, nor our daughters better women. We need to strive towards helping people understand themselves, whatever their gender. We all have the wonderful freedom to aim at whichever virtues we choose, and that is something of which we – as people – ought to be proud.'