I will always be the first one to call out men's bad behaviour on Married At First Sight. And after 13 long seasons, there's a lot of material. From gaslighting all the way to punching literal holes through walls, there's no denying the toxic masculinity that continues to plague our screens every year. 

And this season is no different. 

Watching Danny profess that, as a man, he would feel like a "b***" if he were to move into Bec's home was irritating but not shocking. I wasn't even mildly surprised when all the men at the table joined in on the chorus that it would be emasculating for any man to live in a woman's house, regardless of whether it was the best option for them as a couple.

Ah, fragile masculinity at its finest. 

Watch: Alissa calls David a 'weak man' on MAFS. Article continues after video.

When Tyson went on his tirade about body count and a woman's place in the home, I didn't even bat an eye. Listening to Chris wax on about women's bodies was par for the course. Because, sadly, that's the state of reality TV these days. And that doesn't make it okay or acceptable by any standards, but it does render it predictable.

What did surprise me this season, however, was the women. Particularly how willing some of them were to resort to the same gendered weapons they are fighting against. 

All season long, some of the women have consistently met regressive behaviour with equally dated attacks. It was Stella calling Filip "feminine" simply because he said he was too tired to go out. It was Bec using the word "pussy" to describe the men who were not showing up enough. It was Juliette and Gia claiming that Joel isn't a man simply because he owns a teddy bear. It was Alissa calling David a "weak man" during an argument in order to undermine him. 

And as much as these insults are designed to provoke men, they are actually loaded with misogyny — the belief that femininity is somehow a detriment. They reinforce the idea that manhood is a fragile status that can be revoked the moment a man shows vulnerability or fails to meet a standard. 

Now, I understand that it is a difficult needle to thread, because while calling out toxic behaviour is necessary, it is not easy. Nor should the responsibility of educating men rest purely on the shoulders of the women in their lives. Not at all. 

But when the response to a man's inadequacy is to hurl insults specifically designed to emasculate him or mock his manhood, it doesn't actually dismantle anything — it just reinforces the idea that his worth is tied to a rigid, outdated standard of dominance.

By trying to shrink these men using the language of fragile masculinity, the cycle of toxicity is simply validated. If we want to move away from the archaic expectations of the past, we can't use that same narrow definition of manhood as a punchline. It's possible to hold someone accountable for their regressive views or bad behaviour without becoming a participant in the very system that created them.

While I've come to expect these men to box themselves and the women in their lives in with such rigid, outdated views — and it is entirely on them to grow up and realise how messed up those perspectives are — it is disheartening to see the women unknowingly upholding those same standards. 

While that quick jab might offer a fleeting sense of satisfaction, these insults ultimately serve to hold everyone down — ourselves very much included.

Feature Image: Nine.