(Video taken today in Greece-this man cleans our hotel).
One of the things I love about Southern Europe (and many countries outside the USA, including south America) is how affectionate they are with each other, especially men with other men and with children. In American this man would not be trusted or even regarded as a possible pedophile for wanting to throw a stranger’s kid around and give it hugs. But in most counties, men are allowed to show affection in general (to women, kids and even men) without being thought of as pussies, pedophiles, or homosexuals. So when a man is delighted by kids and show so much love towards them, it’s not creepy or threatening or weird. It’s just a natural human reaction.
But American men aren’t allowed to be emotional human beings with normal feelings (other than anger) and sex is treated as something shameful in general, which creates all kinds of issues for everyone in our society. So what we end up having is a bunch of men full of shame who can’t openly express their humanity and they are expected to be robots until they have their own kids and only then can they be affectionate and loving without their manhood being questioned or without them seeming pervy. Yet another reason why toxic masculinity has got to go.
