The Hypermasculinity Inventory is Puritanical and Authoritarian Nonsense Displaying the Worst Aspects of Psychocentric Feminisms

The Hypermasculinity Inventory is a 30-item scale designed to measure toxic masculinity. The Hypermasculinity Inventory is also extremely flawed in a manner demonstrating the worst aspects of psychocentric feminisms and how psychocentric feminisms can become eugenicist and support toxic masculinity they were meant to oppose.

In the first place, I dispute psychocentric approaches to patriarchy as fundamentally eugenicist. Patriarchy is an institution not an individual issue and is rooted in a network of relationships and socioeconomic pressures. Certain psychiatric instruments may still be valuable but only if critically understood in light of the broader picture.

However, The Hypermasculinity Inventory is just plain bad as an instrument. The Hypermasculinity Inventory more measures Puritan values and faith in the system than anything else.

Questions 5, 10, 12, 13, 16 and 22 are Puritan. Enjoying an excess of pleasure or looking for excitement in life is not a pathology. The search for danger and violence is the issue The Hypermasculinity Inventory was attempting to measure but fails to. In fact, the Puritan values The Hypermasculinity Inventory follows encourage emotional repression and toxic masculinity.

Questions 2, 3, 7, 10, 17, 18, 19, 29 and 30 measure a faith in the system more than anything else. Taking risks and using direct action is simply the sensible thing to do when the system is stacked against you. As a closeted trans girl with autism and undiagnosed ADHD, teachers absolutely sided with bullies over me every time. Authority was untrustworthy and unfair, and I was not able to rely on social norms to protect me by talking things out. How could I possibly have explained how it was unfair to violate my sensory issues to the adults around me at the time? People who cannot rely on the authorities or the system will take risks and turn to violence. In fact, the deference to authority and accepted wisdom the Hyper Masculine Inventory follows encourages a militarised masculinity.

This is not to say all the questions of The Hypermasculine Inventory are bad or that the flawed questions are entirely flawed. However, the measure as a whole is deeply biased towards middle-class white Puritan masculinity which is the exact opposite of what the inventory was supposed to be for.

I encourage readers to critically reject psychocentric feminisms which place patriarchy as an individual issue or some kind of personality disorder or mental illness.