Drawing on a broad range of psychoanalytic, cultural and social influences, the author examines the concept of toxic masculinity for how it brings into focus a widespread anxiety about toxicity throughout daily life: in nature, society and personal relationships.

Karl Figlio taught history of science and medicine at Cambridge and was the founding director of the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex. He is a clinical associate, British Psychoanalytical Society; a Senior Member, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association, British Psychotherapy Foundation; a Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex; and in private practice.

Part One: Becoming Masculine 1. The Uniquely Masculine Part Two: The Interior World 2. Male Internal Genital Space 3. Being Inside: The Topography of the Interior Part Three: The Phallic World 4. The Phallic Defence in the Boy: The Repudiation of Seminality 5. Phallic Monism: A Defensive Collaboration 6. Parthenogenic Procreation Part Four: The Seminal World 7. Seminal Masculinity 8. Incapacity and Ambivalence in Seminal Masculinity Part Five: Masculinity as Repudiation of Femininity 9. Misogyny in the Production of Masculinity 10. Social Misogyny 11. Toxic Masculinity in the Financial Crisis: A Case Study Conclusion 12. The Unease in Normal Masculinity: Between Desolation and Hope