answer the attached question GWS

Key Points for Jackson Katz’s “Tough Guise”

For the most part, Violence is a men’s issue.

But violence against women is made into a women’s issue rather than a men’s issue.

When people talk about violence against women, men are never mentioned. It’s like the violence that men inflict upon women “just happens to them.” When women are raped assaulted and abused and the words “by men” gets left out.

Social commentators focus on how to help the victims rather than how to stop the “male” perpetrators.

In this way, the power of dominant groups is concealed. The Dominant group doesn’t get examined

When the violence is perpetrated by young men or boys, the word male isn’t used either. Boys are instead referred to as “kids” or “punks” “or shooters.”

When girls act out, however, the fact that the perpetrator was a girl becomes the story. When men and boys of color act out, the fact that they are males of color becomes the story. ____________________________________________

There are also biological arguments embedded in the culture that men and boys are “hardwired” to bully, rape and murder. It’s a remnant of the male prehistoric hunter and gather role, or induced by testosterone.

These beliefs purport that men are programmed to be violent and that men’s violence is inevitable. The belief that men are just beasts that can’t overcome their hormones blinds us to cultural systems that influence behavior.

But the assumption that men cannot control their behavior and are incapable of making moral and ethical issues is a form of male bashing. _______________ Being violenct is a form of taught behavior.

Boys are taught to present a “tough guise” by people such as their father’s and coaches. Having a tough guy image is reinforced by television, the movie industry, and video games.

If a boy doesn’t master the tough guy pose, he is shamed for being less than a man.

A boy’s peers serve as gender cops and they ridicule him for displaying any behaviors seen as feminine or display vulnerability.

Sexism and misogyny – the hatred of women – is normalized by the peer culture. There is a stunning lack of empathy for anyone who isn’t part of the boys’ club.

In the American culture, manhood is defined in very narrow terms.

As such, the basic human qualities, which boys have inside them as much as girls gets driven out. The traits that are driven out of boys include compassion, caring vulnerability and intellectual curiosity.

Fighting becomes a primary way to solve disputes, win respect and establish masculine credibility.

Boys have a cultural script to follow, and they are expected to follow that script and learn their role or risk being shamed.

The test of being a real man depends on how well a male lives up to a made up script. And this script has become increasingly violent over time. And the use of violence to achieve respect has intensified over time.

The script states that violence is a legitimate tool for settling scores and proving masculinity.

Some men over-conform to this script for fear of not being seen as a “real man.”

The possibility of being perceived as feminine is met with hysteria. ________ The longstanding cultural narrative also states that being a man involves rampant sexual conquest. Films reinforce this by glamorizing male sexual aggression.

The script also sexualizes men’s dominance & control over women.

Caring about women and girls is for “pussies” & “fags.”

Hence ordinary men use misogyny and homophobia to form bonds with each other and prove their real men.

Gang rape is a twisted group ritual performed as a way of bonding with each other through the degradation of women.

Men who commit gang rape are usually normal young men. Thus violence against women cannot be reduced to mental illness.

Hyper-masculine posturing is glamorized and it’s horrid in the way it is played out in the real world. ________________

This narrow form of masculinity cuts across racial, ethnic and class lines.

Devalued men often become hyper -masculine. The need to be masculine becomes more acute when you’re subjugated.

Black men developed the “cool pose” which has been adopted by men of other racial groups.

Asian men have long been emasculated, desexualized and stereotyped as unmanly.

The counter to this stereotype is the tough guy image seen in martial arts – Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jett Lee. ________________

History shows that whenever there are decreases in economic opportunities, hyper-masculinity rises to the forefront of the cultural scene.

Men lash out in violence as they cope with grief, bitter disappointment and job loss.

This narrow definition of masculinity is reinforced by games and stories.

Comic book heroes are far more “buff” than they were ever before.

Violence against women is romanticized in movies.

Gonzo porn makes sexual violence against women seem normal. _________________________________

Throughout history, when men began to fear that they were losing their power and control, they’ve reacted to this change by retreating into a hyper-masculinity. This happened at the turn of the 20th century when aggressive masculinity became dominant.

It happened again when the women’s liberation movement was in full swing in the 1960s and 1970s.

Men who fear the perils of creeping masculinity turn to violence as a way of regaining their control The best way to reclaim aggressive masculinity is to retreat into a hyper masculine fantasy world.

In the end, aggressive masculinity hurts men!!!

When it comes to gun violence, 86% of the victims are men.

Suicide accounts for 2/3 of all gun deaths.

Part of this is the result of men being forced to bottle up their feelings inside. The culture shames and ridicules men who admit to vulnerability and depression.

And the culture silences the voices of men who don’t buy into the aggressive masculinity cultural narrative.

Males who refuse to prove their manhood by bullying other guys are not seen as real men.

Gay men are especially scorned.

In the end, when men act out aggressively, they are not being deviant, but rather, simply following mainstream cultural norms.