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Toxic Masculinity Oppresses Men in the Workplace, Too
Not even Don Draper likes being Don Draper
I have a male friend who ticks off all the boxes of a prototypical workplace leader. Every day, he plays the part of Don Draper — the brooding 1960s ad man in the TV series Mad Men — by putting on a suit and conforming to people’s notions of what it means to be the brave male boss: working long hours, taking risks, and not showing emotion or displaying any weaknesses. He also works hard to downplay his identity as a father by not mentioning his children or taking time off to care for them.
In other words, he is the very embodiment of what we expect a leader to look like.
Like it or not, workplace environments tend to reproduce the social hierarchy of a society-at-large. That means that we’re subconsciously primed to envision the ideal boss as a white, middle-class, heterosexual, able-bodied male. Men like my friend, who are able to conform to this specific prototype of successful manhood, get access to informal mentoring, social support, and powerful networks. But there’s a catch: To access all the benefits white male privilege has to offer, men need to fit the prototype by both looking the part and engaging in a series of preordained behaviors.
