Editor’s note: This is in response to Amanda Anastasia Paniagua’s opinion piece titled “Toxic masculinity” published on Oct. 4, 2015.

Dear Editor:

Ms. Amanda Anastasia Paniagua might have made a more persuasive argument in her Oct. 4 opinion piece had she tackled the problem of “toxic femininity.”

For the past 50 years, American young men have witnessed the disappearance of jobs, families, and educational opportunities that used to steel the American male to face life. What lies behind all that? I indict a culture that values instant gratification, mediocrity through egalitarianism, and the “sensitive male” at the expense of the hero.

The string of shootings by young white males in recent is no surprise in a society stripped of masculinity. The horrifically high homicide rate among young African-American males is quite easy to trace to an America that has deprived them of everything from employment to the right to vote.

We need to start teaching youth the ways of men again: protect yourself; build your family; serve something greater than yourself. May I suggest, for starters Ms. Paniagua, picking up a DVD of “Fight Club”?

Dr. Julio Cesar Pino

Associate Professor of History

Department of History

Kent State University

[email protected]