Masculinity Outside the Box

"I was just thinking of the experiences of being bullied and being alone and being called a 'bitch' and a 'fag' and all of those things growing up in middle school and early high school. Those experiences sear themselves into your mind. I was thinking about these ways that we define what a man is supposed to act like and how they keep getting repeated in different ways. We keep repeating some of these things where men are kind of shut off from expressing themselves. I think that men do so many things to cover up their shame. For instance, a lot of violence I think is really a reaction to being ashamed."