A woman on TikTok called out another user after they had posted a video recording a man sitting alone at a café with his laptop drinking iced coffee.
The original video had text written over it, reading, “Men used to go to war,” which prompted another user to stitch the video and respond to the perpetuation of toxic masculinity in the statement.
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The woman spoke against the statement
The original video could have been understood as implying that going to war was the ultimate masculine trait, which is now gone.
The woman, whose handle on TikTok is @this_is_the_ladyj, responded to the video questioning a man’s masculinity for drinking iced coffee.
She spoke in a calm but serious tone
“News flash: but men still actually do go to war, and they have been for quite a while,” she began.
Using sarcasm in her response, she joked about the lack of knowledge that wars were quite recent events.
The woman expressed her annoyance with others
“But I digress,” she said after joking about the ignorance and lack of attention regarding the historical accuracy of men going to war.
She then proceeded, “It will never cease to amaze me how much some individuals like to be in other people’s business.”
She recalled the absurdity of the situation
“This gentleman is just sitting there, minding his own business, living as they say ‘his best life,’ enjoying his beverage of choice,” the woman in the video continued.
Then she added, “And yet, there are still some who will criticize him for not drinking a ‘manly enough’ beverage.”
There was an emphasis on toxic masculinity
In order to illuminate her point further, the woman said, “As if it wasn’t enough that there have been individuals over the past few years saying that there is too much toxic masculinity out there.”
“But yet when they see someone who’s not appearing to be manly enough, will still find some reason to criticize that person,” she added.
She sarcastically asked people to choose
Pointing out how ridiculous it is to complain about toxic masculinity and then perpetuate it on social media, the woman ended by saying, “I mean seriously, pick which way you want it, because you can’t really have it both ways.”
Commentors agreed with her opinion
“Man’s enjoying his life and people can’t handle it,” one wrote in the comments.
Another person agreed, typing, “He looks happy, some people can’t stand that.”
Some in the comments actually went to war
A few commenters who had actually been to war chimed in on the situation, with one commenting, “Veteran, welder, blue collar, also like scented candles, fruity cocktails, and frappuccinos.”
A lot of men know a drink has nothing to do with masculinity or femininity.
Others also shared who they were
Another commenter who had been drafted said, “I was stationed on the Aircraft Carrier USS Harry S Truman. We actually had a Starbucks on-broad the ship. We can fight and enjoy a hot latte.”
Iced drinks have nothing to do with gender
It’s obvious that iced drinks, including iced coffee, fundamentally have nothing to do with expressions of masculinity or femininity, and people should not be ridiculed for what they order at their local coffee shop.
However, it is clear that this is still something many view differently.
