Week 4 critical analysis

Jackson Katz: Violence Against Women Is a

Men’s Issue

Jun 3, 2008, 7:00am T. M. Lindsey

Jackson Katz, an internationally recognized educator on violence prevention among men and

boys, asks why rape is a "women's issue" when over 99 percent of rapes are perpetrated by men.

Jackson Katz argues society must first transform how it thinks about violence against women if it

wants to prevent these acts from reoccurring. "As a culture, Americans first must take the step in

acknowledging that violence against women is not a women’s issue, but a

men’s issue," Katz said. Jackson Katz, Men Against Violence

"This is the foundation strategy for engaging young men and boys in

gender violence prevention," Katz told an audience of school

counselors, social workers, teachers, University of Iowa psychology students, social

workers, and community members at a forum in Iowa in April. "The first problem I have with

labeling gender issues as women’s issues is that it gives men an excuse to not pay

attention. This is also the problem with calling them gender issues,

because the majority of the people in the status quo see gender issues

as women’s issues."

Katz is an educator, author and filmmaker and has been long recognized

as one of America’s leading anti-sexist male activists, in particular

in the sports and military cultures. In 1993 he conceived and

co-founded the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Program at Northeastern University’s

Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

The multiracial, mixed-gender MVP program was the first large-scale

attempt to enlist high school, collegiate and professional athletes in

the fight against all forms of men’s violence against women. Today MVP

is the most widely utilized gender violence prevention program in

college and professional athletics.

Drawing upon his most recent book, "The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and

How All Can Help," Katz shared some strategies with the

audience, providing them with what he hoped was a foundation they could

build upon in their professional and private lives. "My goal here today

is to give you some concrete strategies on how to approach issues

regarding violence against women and prevent gender-violence issues

among men and young boys."

Katz spent a significant portion of the session driving home his first

strategy and why a paradigm shift in thinking is imperative to the

prevention of gender violence. At the root of the problem is language

and how, historically, language has helped cement and legitimize how

people view gender violence.

Katz used race and gender to illustrate how, over time, language has

helped perpetuate and maintain the dominant culture’s dominance. "In

the United States, when we hear the word `race,’ people generally think

of African Americans," Katz said. "When people hear `sexual

orientation,’ they tend to think that means homosexual, gay, or

lesbian. When people hear `gender,’ they think of women."

"In each, the dominate culture is left out of the equation. This is one

way that dominant systems maintain themselves in that they are rarely

challenged to think about their own dominance," Katz said. "This is one

of the key characteristics of power and privilege and why the dominant

culture has ability to go unexamined and remain invisible."

Katz admits this is one of the key challenges he faces when working

with men, the dominant group in our society. Katz reminds the audience

that his focus is on men. "I hope nobody in this room is under the

delusion that this is sexist," Katz said. "I know women have made great

historical strides in recent history, but when we talk about the

dominant group in our society, we are talking about men. I’m also aware

that members of dominant groups have been strong supporters of

subordinate groups, but let’s not be naïve, for there have been members

of dominant groups who have resisted reform and responsibility."

Another reason why Katz has a problem with people using women’s issues

to describe violence against women is the issue of perpetration and who

is responsible for perpetrating these acts. "Take rape for example,"

said Katz. "Over 99 percent of rape is perpetrated by men, but it’s a

women’s issue?"

Kats said one underlying problem is that college campuses tend to focus

on the prevention of rape and sexual violence. "But the term prevention

in not really prevention; rather, it’s risk reduction," Katz said.

"These programs focus on how women can reduce their chances of being

sexually assaulted. I agree that women benefit from these education

programs, but let us not mistake this for prevention."

"If a woman has done everything in her power to reduce her risk, then a

man who has the proclivity for abuse or need for power will just move

on to another woman or target," Katz added. "It’s about the guy and his

need to assert his power. And it’s not just individual men, it’s a

cultural problem. Our culture is producing violent men, and violence

against women has become institutionalized. We need to take a step back

and examine the institutionalized polices drafted by men that

perpetuate the problem."

The third problem Katz has with using the term women’s issues has to do

with how deeply personal these issues are in men’s lives. "It is

estimated that 18 million women, children, and men have been sexually

abused in the U.S.," Katz said. "Think about all the men who love these

people and have been personally and profoundly affected by knowing that

their loved ones have been a victim of sexual violence. So don’t tell

me these are not men’s issues."

Katz’s second strategy for addressing gender violence demands that we

hold male leaders accountable, since they have the transformative power

within the institution to make change happen. "I come from a social

justice perspective that if you are a member of the dominant group and

you don’t speak up in the face of others in your group when they are

abusive, your silence is a form of consent and complicity."

Katz says the mainstream media should also be held accountable for its

silence in the realm of reporting on gender violence. "On the one-year

anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre, the coverage of the event

was pathetic, not to mention the commentary was ridiculously

superficial," Katz said. "There was not one mention of men,

masculinity, or violence in their coverage, yet all of these school

shootings have been perpetrated by young men. The first thing we should

be talking about is the gender of the perpetrators, not gun control,

school security, and the school’s responsibility."

Moreover, Katz used Michael Moore’s documentary film, "Bowling for

Columbine," to help support his point about the de-gendering of

violence perpetrated by men. "Moore’s documentary about the Columbine

shootings won several awards, including an Oscar for Best Documentary,"

Katz said. "He makes a two-hour film about gun violence; however, he

doesn’t once mention the single most important factor leading to the

shooting: gender."

Katz points out a pattern that has evolved regarding how the media uses

passive voice and sentences when reporting gender violence. Using a

board in the front of the room, Katz helped make his point by providing

the audience with a concrete exercise to illustrate the power of

passive voice (see below).

John beat Mary. (active)

Mary was beaten by John. (passive)

Mary was beaten. (passive)

Mary was battered. (passive)

Mary is a battered woman. (active)

"John has left the conversation long ago, while Mary evolves into the

active victim," Katz said. "This evolution of victim-blaming is very

pervasive in our society, because this is how our whole power structure

is set up. We start asking why Mary put herself into a position to be

beaten by John."

"If we really want to work on prevention, we need to start asking

questions about John, not Mary," Katz said. "We won’t get anything done

until we start treating these issues as men’s issues and shift the

paradigm at the cultural level."