The concepts of gender and sexuality can be observed in expansive spheres of everyday life. This extends from at-home interpersonal familial and social relationships and interactions to economic related activity as well as in the broader political world. By identifying and analyzing how gender and sexuality is represented, contested, and constrained in my everyday life, one experience in particular is of significant note. While out for dinner and drinks with a number of friends in my small hometown, one of them made a comment about his work environment that relates to the concept of gender. In my hometown there are a number of forest product manufacturing plants and they are easily the largest employer in the city. One of my friends who works at one of these plants made the comment, “it is impossible to get hired or promoted at the mill unless you have a vagina.” 

I found this comment particularly thought provoking as it relates to the concept of gender because I have experience working in these plants for summer employment. In my experience working at one of these plants, I can recall having only one female foreman out of six and no female supervisors under them. Additionally, the male-to-female employee ratio leaned significantly toward men based on my own observations. With such a stark gender divide at both the management and employee level, I asked myself: how could he have come to such a conclusion?

I found the concept of “aggrieved entitlement” to be helpful in analyzing the statement discussed prior. It is a perceived threat to one’s status that drives politics of aggrieved entitlement which is a sense that the benefits one believed they were entitled to have been unceremoniously seized by some unforeseen forces that are larger and more powerful than oneself. The politics of aggrieved entitlement are intertwined with the concept of toxic masculinity and have the capacity to devolve into violence, physically and psychologically. Since financial and worldly success are often an element of manhood, being passed over for a promotion or being rejected for a high-paying job can be understandably crushing. Traditional notions of manhood would then dictate a toxic response through rage and aggression, rejecting any response associated with any behavior that would be considered feminine. Thus, leading to angry comments like the one made at my dinner. 

Do I think then that my friend who made the comment is toxic? No, I do not. I think that his comment was a toxic response that is rooted in a feeling of powerlessness and insecurity in his current position at work and perhaps in life through no fault of his own, but also not because of women being promoted or hired in his place. Rather elements of toxic masculinity and aggrieved entitlement were the driving force behind his comment. 

Now the question is, where does this feeling come from? Is there a reason why he may be experiencing instability at work and looking for something to blame? Perhaps inadequate management of globalization by global actors is to blame. The social processes that shape our lives consistently cross territorial borders with decisions made in one territorial state by a government or corporation have significant impacts on the lives of those outside it. The result is then a sense of vulnerability to transnational forces that many people have no power in controlling. 

In order to remedy this, nation states must look at how to leverage economic redistribution, cultural recognition, and political representation to ensure no one is left behind. Indeed, globalization has seen many manual labour jobs shipped overseas, while most local economic growth and job creation has taken place in sectors requiring high levels of education and skills training that are increasingly out of reach for many. Thus, my photo represents the anxiety and powerlessness many manual laborers have about their places in life. Only by investigating and responding to the root causes of the toxic comments made, often by men, in these situations can we work towards a more equal and just society.