Empowering The Rainbow: How to Fight The Normalization Of Toxic Masculinity

 Over the past five years, the English classroom teacher has faced a crisis in education brought on by not only the divisive political climate but also legislation changes that have normalized discrimination against marginalized groups. I use autoethnography in order to provide first-hand observations in the predominantly conservative English classroom as a way to analyze and understand a rise in toxic masculinity and its detrimental impacts. I will illuminate the importance of avoiding neutrality on this issue, which would further normalize this cultural shift. It is crucial for English teachers to combat this issue and provide diverse learning experiences that support multicultural students to reinforce acceptance and humanization as a goal because teachers have a vast influence that makes them essential to social change and advocacy. English teachers are especially armed with narratives to combat dangerous false narratives and discriminatory societal trends.