Expectations

The issue of this post is one far beyond comics, and transcends all mediums into real life. As discussed in the comic by Luke Humphris, it has a very real impact on people, to the point that the pressure of it caused his brother to take his own life. This is a very serious issue that nearly everyone can relate to, and as such, it's a difficult topic to talk about because of it's universality. This is what makes it perfect for comics, because it is so much easier to talk about things with pictures instead of fickle words.

In both the videos and the comic, the subject matter is covered with tact and spoken through the lens of the men that they affected. It shows the very deep personal impact that societies masculine standards has on them, and this all relates back to expectations. What men are expected to be, exactly like what everyone is expected to be.

As people, we put others in boxes to more easily identify them, and understand them to the best of our ability. But it's when we try to put these stereotypes into practical application that it becomes problematic and creates systemic issues like toxic masculinity, sexism, racism, etc. It's breaking out of these predetermined boxes that creates 3 dimensional and interesting characters to explore. There's things we can't just predetermine because they are members of such-and-such group.

They're human, and that's the only box they fit in.