My boyfriend has a problem with insecurity relating to my past

My boyfriend is in somewhat of a crisis. We were talking about past relationships when I mentioned how I had admired a picture of a young man who was in a magazine I used to receive 42 years ago. He suddenly went quiet and said that I made him feel emasculated because of my admiration of someone who is probably now older than me. I was 23 when I admired this picture. I told him that he was being jealous of a picture that was almost half a century old. And that I was very young at that time. He continued to say how emasculated he felt. I continued to say that this was an anxiety/insecurity issue. I told him this was due to nothing I had said or done. It related to the fact that he had issues with relationships he had in the past.

I'm wondering where all this is coming from. I don't know what to say to all of this. I'd like to understand what is going on. I do realize that this has to relate to his past. I know I have done nothing to cause this to raise its ugly head. I'm at a loss what to say to him about this. I've never had anyone say that a picture from 42 years ago makes them jealous and emasculated. I'm beginning to think I need to take some time from this relationship and examine what I might be doing to cause this to occur. I've suddenly had more problems in this relationship that any I have ever had. I guess what I'm trying to say is I've reached a point in my life where I don't have the patience or time to give to this relationship. I have more time behind me than in front of me and I need to take that into consideration.

He constantly asks me questions about maybe I should just hang up and go on with my life. So much self-depreciation in his questions and tone. He's always saying I can do better than him. It drives me nuts with his attitude. So I'll take that break from this relationship and see what I can see from a distance. 😞