Perfume Genius Quotes

Masculinity is a terrible problem, as we construe it and shape it.

If you're a man, you don't have to worry about your manliness.

I'm not macho, I'm not a Mel Gibson sort of person.

I'm very empathic to the construction of masculinity within our culture and how we build these identities up.

I'm not a bro.

Sometimes, how you ingest this idea of masculinity as projected onto you by the world could be the difference of life and death.

I think we still live in this era of hyper-masculinity.

Masculinity is kind of a toxic curse, isn't it? The expectations of it were hard on me.

For me, I think there is no absolute standard on masculinity.

In thinking about male identities, I'm struck by the inadequacy of the terms we use. The notion that men should be distant, domineering and self-seeking is often described as toxic masculinity, but this serves only to alienate those who might need most help.

I hate men who are in touch with their feminine side.

I actually don't think there is machismo in America, unless it's the cowboy type - the silent, smoking brooder.

In the U.S., oddly, we have images of men as arrogant and aggressive.

I think a case could be made that there's sort of a crisis of masculinity in the West. Particularly with white males.

I don't burn any calories trying to be masculine; I just happen to be from that world.

There aren't a whole lot of people in culture that are unapologetically masculine.

So much of Hollywood is this kind of overly machismo, nonsensical view of masculinity, which I just don't find honest. I think it's this idea of - you know, we're told, well, 'Be a man, be a man.' But what does that mean, exactly? Does that mean you can't carry yourself with any fear? That you can't acknowledge that you're scared?

Men weren't really the enemy - they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.

Masculine ideals have become very confused in the modern world.

Men are recognizing that they have been forced to conform to a very narrow and rather two-dimensional picture of maleness and manhood that they have never had the freedom to question.

I don't think most men do hate women at all - I think most men are trying their best and facing a culturation into masculine behaviour that forces them to deny their own humanity and to exaggerate distance from the world of women.

You would never say to a man, 'do you like playing strong men?' You just wouldn't say that.

Men are taught that if we are not the ultimate provider, we are a complete failure. We have to be number one in everything we do. There is nothing more delusional or paralysing than what I have just described.

Some men feel threatened by the idea of feminism. This comes, I think, from the insecurity triggered by how boys are brought up, how their sense of self-worth is diminished if they are not 'naturally' in charge as men.

I don't know enough about manliness to define it.