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Lo Que Arde

Men Who Burned and Turned Off the Light

Vintage collage of a father and his son building a tower of blocks together in black and white, surrounded by large colorful flowers dominating the foreground. The scene blends intimacy and playfulness, symbolizing sensitivity and masculine construction.


After so many waves of feminism across the entire green spectrum, occupying every corner of public discourse…
I find myself asking something almost no one asks:
How do men feel on the inside?

Illustration of a male figure divided into two overlapping silhouettes, one dark and one light, set against an orange background. The image suggests inner tension and emotional struggle in a man.

Without doing sociology —I’m not one, and even if I were,
I wouldn’t use cold concepts to name something this intimate—
I’m only going to describe what’s evident:

❌ totalizing generalizations: “men are like this”
❌ automatic suspicion of male desire
❌ shame around one’s own sexuality
❌ ridiculing strength or initiative
❌ incentives to stay silent: “better shut up, you’ll probably screw it up”


This hits male self-esteem directly.


Luminous silhouette of a young man crouching against a completely black background, outlined with bright white strokes that emphasize his introspective posture.


When a man feels that simply being a man already makes him a threat, he starts to erase himself.
And it’s devastating.


Then come the escapes no one talks about:

👉 guilt for existing
👉 fear of getting close so as not to “invade”
👉 desire switched off so as not to “harass”
👉 hidden sadness so as not to “seem pathetic”
👉 escape into porn, alcohol, THC, games —because there, they don’t have to justify anything


And meanwhile:

  • the culture never taught emotional tools
  • male mental health stays off the agenda
  • the media polarize for profit
  • certain discourses demonize masculinity
  • men don’t talk to each other about what’s happening to them


What does a man do when the world asks him not to exist
and his heart asks him not to disappear?


The way out is not noise.
It’s not posing.
It’s not armoring yourself.


It’s about showing up again among other men:

male friendships that don’t let you go
spaces where speaking isn’t dangerous
bonds where feeling is human
role models who don’t run from themselves


And something minimal, but foundational:
to seriously ask another man:
“Hey… are you okay? Is something going on?”

Because that’s how a light turns on.
That’s how the pulse comes back.
That’s how a man stops fading out.





Man: don’t disappear




Illustration of a young man running with a wide smile across a green field, his clothes moving with the wind and a blue sky in the background, conveying masculine freedom and vitality.


🔥 If any of this touched something inside you,

we continue the conversation on Blog Ardiente.

A refuge to reignite life from the root, and then build in the world what deserves to exist.

From the inside.

Without permission.

Without apologizing.






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