Tough Guise 2

Tough Guise 2

Violence, Manhood and American Culture

Dr. Jackson Katz

What Are Little Boys Made of?
Michael Kimmel

Dr Katz is an anti sexist male activist, gender violence prevention educator with men and boys.

In Tough Guise I Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity, it claims that violence in video games, movies and in the media are responsible for violence against women committed by men. That a "real man" are the ones that portray that they are strong, powerful and tough and those who don't are considered ton be a wuss, wimp, weak, sissy. But is the "real man" image just a front that men put?

One comparison made to show how media has changed the way they portray Batman. Muscles went from being 12.2" to 26.8.

 

They also claim that domestic violence is due to men wanting to maintain control over women and women asserting to be treated equally.

In Part 2 of Tough Guise they discuss how there are 2 Americas regarding violence. One that recoils in horror and one that can't get enough as a form of entertainment.

It shows how violence is a men issue when you look at the statistics:

86% of armed robberies, 99% of rapes, 90% of murders, and 86% of domestic violence are committed by men. 

Tough Guise 2 and the article by Michael Kimmel, What Are Little Boys Made of? Dr James Gilligan says that the reason men/boys turn to violence is because of fear of being shamed, disrespected or humiliated. He states that " Violence has more to do with the cultural construction of manhood than it does with the hormonal substrates of biology". Just as we are not born sexist, homophobic or racist, we are not born violent.   One day after class, as I was driving home, I noticed a sticker on a car:

One of the things that bothers me when someone commits a crime automatically they are sent for a psych evaluation. The media blames mental illness, guns, video games, substance abuse, guns, lead in homes, dysfunctional family but they don't blame the men that commit the crime. Why is it that women who are not immune to the causes the media claims to be the problem don't commit half as much as the number of crimes men do? 

Luke Woodham, a 16 year old that committed murder at a Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi because he was ridiculed, beaten and hated by his peers, said "I am not insane, I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated everyday." He also believed that "murder is not weak and slow witted, murder is gutsy and daring." I believe it is cowardly.

Jonathan Salisbury and David Jackson believe that "masculine violence is intentional, deliberate and purposeful." That "it comes from an attempt by men and boys to create and sustain a system of masculine power and control that benefits them in every minute of the day. Forget testosterone; it's sexism." Yes, I feel it is a choice men make in order to keep control. I also believe that it is more manly to walk away from a violent situation than to engage in it.