Tender Masculinity

Tender Masculinity playfully presents movies that showcase the full spectrum of male love, comradery, joy, humor, and tenderness.

The phrase “toxic masculinity” has been overused to the point of cliché—from big trucks and bigger guns to predatory attitudes toward women, men get a bad rap. Portraits of masculinity in film are often no different, reinforcing that to be a man means being heartless, stoic, and cruel.

In recent decades, as new voices and perspectives are uplifted in front of and behind the camera, we are finally seeing men in their fullness: strong enough to be vulnerable, caring enough to be tender. Tender Masculinity features six films ranging from the classic Hollywood studio era to the present that tell stories of men who care for each other in the face of prejudices, honoring their true, complex selves and striving for intimacy in a world that would shun them for it.

IMAGE CAPTION 
Clockwise from top left: First Cow, courtesy of A24; Magic Mike XXL, courtesy of Warner Bros.; Moonlight, courtesy of A24; Tea and Sympathy, courtesy of Park Circus; No Ordinary Man, courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories; Looking for Langston, courtesy of Strand Releasing.