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:star: Toxic Masculinity :star: - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
      - Fall 1991 - Summer 1992
        
        In 1991, Pittsburgh PA reported...
        
        3,435 Forcible Rapes
        
        26,440 Aggravated Assaults
        
        53,824 Violent Crimes
      - Published in 1999
  - - - While Derek is depicted as being emotional and caring by giving Candace a mixtape, this is still carried out in a mocking fashion. Candace seems bothered that he does this every week. When Charlie is given the mixtape and listens to it later, some of the songs are comically mushy.
      - Derek is even referred to by people at school as “Ponytail Derek,” mocking his long hair for going against the belief that to be masculine one needs to have short hair.
      - When asked by Candace, “Do you always wanna be a mama’s boy, Derek?” Derek reacts very aggressively, yelling “I am not a mama’s boy!” in Candace’s face. When Candace says he “stands like a little bitch dog,” when in the presence of his mother, Derek slaps Candace across the face. This response displays that he is insecure in his masculinity, as Candace challenging his manliness brings out a fit of anger and aggression.
      - Derek is the boyfriend of Candace. Both are seniors and members of the earth club. Around school, students mockingly call him Ponytail Derek, due to his hair being long and always pulled into a ponytail. Derek is depicted as soft and a little unintelligent, but is proven to be quick to anger and violence when he is seen yelling at and eventually slapping Candace. Candace and Derek break up near the end of the film.
    - - Our first introduction to Bob is through a conversation between Sam and Patrick. Sam says “He’s still trying to shag that waitress from the Olive Garden,” (12:13) and Patrick replies, “Ah! He’s never tossing that salad.”
      - When the audience finally meets Bob, his first remark is “That waitress, from the Olive Garden? She was such a tease,” (19:40). On the surface, this shows obvious disrespect for the waitress. On a deeper level, his statement reflects a sensitivity to rejection and an attempt to mask his feelings on being rejected. In a society influenced by toxic masculinity, men are implicitly told that if they are interested in a woman they should pursue her. When the woman does not return the sentiment, men are then encouraged to dismiss her wishes and to try to convince her to change her mind. When this fails, men are left to choose between revealing their disappointment and defeat, or to mask their feelings with insults, jokes, or lies. By writing the waitress off as a tease, Bob shirks responsibility for his continued pursuit of her while also insulting her for not returning his feelings.
      - When Charlie starts getting bad again, he hangs out with Bob, as everyone else in the group will no longer speak to him. Charlie is obviously in distress and tells Bob, “Somethings wrong with me,” (1:09:33), to which Bob replies “Don’t worry about it,” and changes the subject. Whether he was oblivious to Charlie’s poor state or he intentionally brushed Charlie off, either explanation derives from toxic masculinity. Bob is not in touch with his emotions nor the emotions of those around him.
      - Bob is the stoner and drug enthusiast of the Wallflowers. His character lacks depth or development, but displays many traits of toxic masculinity throughout the film.
    - - When Patrick finds out that Candace is Charlie’s older sister, Patrick does not immediately think of anything to do with Candace personally, but instead he refers to her as the girl dating Ponytail Derek. This is reflective of the way toxic masculinity has encouraged society to think of women only in regards to their relationship with the men around them.
      - When arguing with Derek, she asks him repeatedly, “Do you always wanna be a mama’s boy, Derek?”
        Candace is mocking Derek for traits that typically do not fit in with toxic masculinity, such as being close to his mother and wanting to take her advice.
      - When Derek slaps Candace across the face, Charlie enters the room only for Candace to stop him and push him back out. She claims she can handle things and asks him to not wake their parents before shutting the door (15:25). Candace is later shown walking him out to his car and kissing him goodbye.
        Candace’s reaction to hide and downplay Derek’s physical assault is reflective of a society that normalizes and excuses abuse through unfounded rationel, such as the idea that men are naturally quick to anger and/or incapable of controlling that anger.
      - After Derek leaves, Candace is confronted by Charlie. She reassures him by saying, “Charlie, this is Ponytail Derek. I can handle him.”
        Derek is much taller and larger than Candace. Her assertion that she can handle him, paired with her calling him Ponytail Derek, implies that his effeminate qualities take away from his portrayed strength and manhood. This also suggests that he shouldn’t be considered a threat, even despite him already assaulting her.
      - Candace is Charlie’s older sister. Growing up, Candace and Charlie were close and spent a lot of time together. They grow apart as they age, as Candace is a senior during Charlie’s freshmen year yet neglects to help him socially as he struggles to make friends. Candace dates Derek through the story, and their relationship progressively grows more toxic until he slaps her during an argument. Candace stays with Derek for a long while after the assault and acts as if it didn’t happen, but leaves him before the end of the school year.
    - - Sam is a senior who takes Charlie under her wing. Sam is Patrick’s step-sister, and is very close to her step-brother. Patrick is speaking to Charlie when Sam is first introduced, and she instantly and obviously becomes the protagonist’s love interest. For the remainder of the story, even though Sam has her own character development and role in the plot, she is primarily featured only to further Charlie’s development and to be the love interest. The way her character is limited to this role encapsulates the role women are expected to serve as mere supplements to men’s lives when living in a society controlled by toxic masculinity.
      - Charlie assumes that because of Sam and Patrick’s close relationship, they must be dating. (14:15)
        This reflects how a society influenced by toxic masculinity tends to inappropriately sexualize and/or romanticize interactions between men and women. This distortion of intentions indicates an assumption that men only interact with women to pursue them, and women only interact with men to entertain their pursuits.
      - Charlie reveals that when Sam was a freshman, the upperclassmen would get her drunk at parties because she “had a reputation.” Charlie learns this information from Candace, indicating that this was well-known information. The fact that as a minor, Sam was taken advantage of by men much older than her yet it is her reputation that is tarnished is terrible and a reflection of how toxic masculinity leads men to be guiltless of their actions and women to be the ones left to take all the blame and shame. Candace’s knowledge of the events imply that the boys who would assault Sam would brag of their actions and spread the word, indicating a broader acceptance of rape culture within those communities.
    - - Brad panics when Charlie walks in on him and Patrick kissing (24:20). Brad is a great example of the effects of toxic masculinity. His father is a rough, violent man who would Brad believes would kill him if Brad was outed as gay. Brad also hides his sexaulity from his friends and classmates, even to the extent to where he stood by and allowed his friends to beat up Patrick. To the outsider, Brad seems to be a man’s man, as a football star and popular student. But through the lens of toxic masculinity, being gay just does not fit in with these manly lifestyles.
      - Brad struggles with accepting his identity. Charlie reveals that Brad would have to get drunk for him and Patrick to fool around, only to claim that he was so wasted he didn’t remember a thing. This cycle of denial went on for seven months. Brad cried after confessing that he loved Patrick, and believed that he was going to hell.
      - Brad is the closeted boyfriend of Patrick. Brad is a star football player with a homophobic father who he greatly fears. Brad feels a strong need to perform masculinity in the way that toxic masculinity demands, which is pushed by his own self dialogue as well as the pressure of those around him.
    - - Patrick is one of the few characters which seem to contradict toxic masculinity's expectations. He is gay, sensitive, and effeminate and is absolutely unbothered by dressing in lingerie and make-up to perform his Rocky Horror Picture Show. He communicates his frustrations, such as with Charlie after Patrick and Brad’s breakup, and is affectionate with his friends. Even though his less masculine aspects are not mocked in the underhanded way in which Ponytail Derek is mocked, Patrick is still ostracized for his break from the norm. Through his unpopularity outside of his group of friends, Patrick still serves to enforce the idea of toxic masculinity in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
      - Patrick is the step-brother of Sam and the secret boyfriend of Brad. Patrick is a senior who takes Charlie under his wing and welcomes him to their group of friends, the Wallflowers. He toasts Charlie into the group stating, “You see things, and you understand. You’re a wallflower.” (26:10).
    - - When Charlie’s mental health and overall wellbeing is improving, he is engaging in activities that stray from the ideals of toxic masculinity, such as reading and writing for extra credit, listening to rock ballads, and “thinking about love.”
      - When Charlie witnesses Derek slap his sister, Charlie barges into the room to intervene. After Candace kicks him out of the room, the movie cuts to Charlie sitting in his room lost in thought and feeling guilty. Both his attempt to intervene and his later guilt result from Charlie feeling responsible for his older sister, even though she is older and her situation was not his fault. Toxic masculinity encourages men to feel responsible for protecting women and defending them from harm.
      - After being exiled from his friends for weeks, Charlie defends Patrick in a violent fight against three other boys. After this event, Charlie is immediately welcomed back into the group. This reinforces the toxic idea that a man must be a protector and that by performing masculinity in this way he “finally got it right” and is welcomed back. This is particularly toxic because Charlie tried apologizing and talking to the group of friends, but it was by engaging in violence and proving his worth that they finally gave in.
      - In the very beginning of the story, Charlie writes a letter to a fake friend, and states, “I’m both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that can be.” In general, men aren’t encouraged to see their emotions as having depth and being complex, and aren’t taught how to, or even that they should, allow themselves to feel and sort through these emotions
      - While Charlie’s letters prove that he has made some steps toward processing his feelings through writing, he still uses these letters to vent in a way that doesn’t truly process any in depth emotions, but rather to express his frustrations with his surface level emotions.
      - Charlie is the protagonist of the story. Charlie struggles to deal with his many traumas as he enters high school after the suicide of his best friend. He is constantly hindered by toxic masculinity, both directly and indirectly. Charlie writes letters to an unknown, and likely imaginary, recipient. After being welcomed into the friend group of Wallflowers, Charlie experiences friendship and love from his friends, as well as embarrassment and heartbreak. After reaching new highs and feeling much better mentally, Charlie’s mistakes and the actions of those around him send him spiraling into a mental break, until he is eventually hospitalized and his trauma is finally brought to light to be processed and recovered from.