Latest sign of "toxic masculinity": Fathers who actually act like fathers.

Case in point: The "Dads Against Daughters Dating" T-shirt. It's black with a white AR-47 stencil and the slogan "Shoot the first one and the word will spread!" That was my dad! (Not that I had a lot of dates. since I was what my mother tactfully called a "late bloomer.".) I wish I had a daughter so I could buy one for my husband–sigh.

But the shirt has offended the delicate sensibilities of Huffington Post blogger Mike Reynolds. In 2015 he blogged as follows:

But at face value, a shirt that reads Dads Against Daughters Dating is horrible for a number of reasons:

  1. It suggests our girls are our property.
  2. It suggests our girls are delicate flowers who need male protection at all times.
  3. It suggests girls should “just take a joke” when it comes to their own strength.
  4. It cheapens the role that dads do play in teaching our children about relationships.
  5. It suggests dads think your kids are out looking to assault our girls.
  6. It teaches our girls that dating must be dangerous….

"D.A.D.D, is misogyny in full flight," Reynolds wrote.

So now, Reynolds has his own line of anti-misogynistically correct male garments for sale, the HuffPo reports in a "parenting" story titled "Dad Combats Harmful Stereotypes About Fatherhood With Empowering Shirts."

The messages on the shirts, which are for sale on his website, include, “Dad who cries when Bing Bong dies,” “Strength has no gender” and “Not my body, not my choice.”…

Reynolds wants to redefine what masculinity means, to show boys growing up today that there is no one “right” way to be a man. Whether you fix cars or paint your nails, whether you cry watching movies or don’t shed a tear, whether you dress up as a princess or a superhero for Halloween, anyone who identifies as male is “doing it right,” he explained.

The story includes a photo of Reynolds, apparently at a marathon, wearing a pink tank top with the words "I run like a girl."

Well–P.J. Media parenting columnist Jeff Reynolds (apparently no relation) has this to say:

It seems this author is a lot more hung up on traditional masculinity than those who are, you know, traditionally masculine. Somehow it seems to him that the fact that some women get raped, or rape culture is covered up on campus (a subject I wrote about just this month) is to be laid at the feet of all men. Fathers, being the oppressing gender, are to subvert their very nature to correct a societal ill.

And:

Well, here's to being a traditional father, and all that role entails in bringing up sons and daughters with strength, character, and self discipline.

Mike Reynolds has two daughters, ages 4 and 6. Their photos indicate that they're beautiful. When those girls grow up to be 14 and 16, it may go through his head that some of the boys looking to "date" them may not really be interested in their minds, and that even the best brought-up young ladies may not always have the maturity as teen-agers to exercise the best judgment when it comes to evaluating male allure. And that physically strong and fast-running as a girl may be, generally speaking, she'll never be as strong or fast on her feet as a man (that's why competitive sports have separate male and female tracks).

And then he may realize that one of a father's jobs is to protect. And that masculinity isn't so bad after all.