Out actor Keiynan Lonsdale has
encouraged men to embrace their feminine side.
The 26-year-old Lonsdale
came out bisexual last year.
In a lengthy Instagram post shared
Friday, Lonsdale described masculinity as “fragile” and blamed it
for “a lot of the pain in the world.”
“I think man is one of the most
fearful, scared and insecure creatures that have ever existed, and
that's because of the pressure each and every single boy has had
placed on them about what it means to be a man. They've been told
that it means to be straight, strong, to not cry, not show emotions,
to take the woman, and have power, control, and money – then these
boys that are full of love and innocence are being told that they are
wrong; 'You're wrong for feeling that, you need to be tougher, you
need to be a man, you're too slow, you're too weak, you're too
dumb.'”
"So we begin to resent every part
of us that doesn't fit into this picture that we've been shown –
and we bury it and hurt ourselves over it and lash out. If a
hyper-masculine dude sees a guy that's more feminine and in touch
with his emotions being just as successful and strong as him, he is
confused because he was told that in order to be a man, you have to
be a certain way. And he is seeing that not always being the case –
which means that he has been lied to, and that's the hardest thing to
swallow. I think masculinity is fragile – extremely fragile, but
it's because of poisonous conditioning that has been placed in each
boy from the beginning of film, television and society in general. In
turn, that creates this imbalance of power and equality against a
feminine energy within ourselves and women. My personal belief is
that a lot of the pain in the world has come from that. But it is
changing and that's inspiring.”
"It has a lot to do with girls
too, because for a man to feel safe to be vulnerable and for a woman
to say: 'I love your vulnerability, I love your femininity, I see the
strength in your emotion' – that gives them the confidence to
simply be themselves, and I think we're seeing it more and more in
this new generation and just in general. People want people to be
honest and that's true strength. I have a lot of hope,” he
added.