The death of masculinity

The Duchess of Sussex says she wants her father/son themed children’s book The Bench ‘to depict another side of masculinity — one grounded in connection, emotion, and softness.’ This assumes of course that men aren’t already connected, emotional and soft, which, as a touchy-feely kind of bloke I find a little off. 

Imagine if I had written a children’s book about a mother/daughter relationship (that could never happen, of course) and then announced that I wanted to depict ‘another side of femininity – one grounded in connection, emotion, and softness.’ The outrage would probably be threefold – I’d almost certainly be harangued for presuming to understand the unique relationship between a mother and daughter; I might also be criticised for demanding that women pander to outdated feminine stereotypes while simultaneously insinuating that the female sex is by nature hardnosed, unemotional and lacking in empathy. I’d quite rightly be pilloried for such phallocentric insolence.