When people hear about toxic masculinity and the fragile male ego, it is at times difficult for men, and some women, to capitulate and at least acknowledge that it exists.
But a recent Tweet from Seattle Seahawks‘ two-year veteran Frank Clark is an excellent example of what it is and how it affects women.
Yesterday, the Seahawks defensive end decided to hop on Twitter to criticize current Bleacher Report writer Natalie Weiner for writing a story two years ago regarding the NFL and domestic violence, which also referenced Clark’s past and Weiner’s own personal experience, entitled “On Frank Clark and Blaming the Victim.”
writing about domestic violence is fun and risk free pic.twitter.com/XGqCQ6RvNQ
Natalie Weiner (@natalieweiner) May 10, 2017
Weiner recently wrote a story about former Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy and football’s domestic violence issues, and concluded that if Hardy were still good enough, he’d be on an NFL roster despite his sordid history of violence and assault towards women. As far as the digital paper trail goes, that appears to be the only catalyst for his twitter attack on Weiner two years later.
Clark, who had a domestic violence issue while at Michigan that resulted in his dismissal from the school, later deleted the tweet and issued an apology.
Apologize to anyone who felt offended by my tweet earlier. We gotta do better supporting these major issues we face in this world.
Frank Clark (@TheRealFrankC_) May 10, 2017
For someone whose pinned tweet is a photo of him, his mother and baby sister, Frank’s actions raises many questions (and please read the thread in that tweet to see just how rampant the ignorance is). But maybe they gave him some “act right” which caused him to delete the tweet. Regardless of the apology or why it was issued, it’s apparent that he had been fuming over Weiner’s story ever since it was published and was simply looking for an opportunity to give her a piece of his mind. But Clark’s ignorant attack on Weiner proves he hasn’t learned a thing from his arrest or subsequent plea bargain, and is another blemish on the NFL’s ongoing fight to change it’s perception as it relates to sexism and domestic violence.
His actions are atypical of toxic masculinity and male ego, and how it often elicits irrational anger and contempt for women and girls who check or challenge them in any arena. It’s almost as if some don’t believe a woman has the right to critique or criticize any man, no matter what he has been associated with.
This is but the most recent, glaring example of this dangerous phenomenon which continues to plague society, sports and the NFL in particular.
