Male Violence is not just "a woman's issue"

It's interesting that if you google "Statistics of Male Violence", many of the first articles that come up will be statistics about "men who are victims of female violence".  It's almost as if, once again, women are to be blamed, or dismissed,  for the overwhelming statistics of  male violence.  Yes, there are women who do violence - but overwhelmingly  it is men who are mass murderers, men who rape, men who molest children both male and female, men who beat women, and men who kill other men. What got me on that search was the poem below, forwarded to me by a group list I'm on. I like the way the poet closes with "praying for a resocialization miracle".      My response to this poem was what got me surfing the internet, and I came up with some interesting videos, among them one by Jackson Katz, who speaks eloquently about that deflectment, denial, and dismissal of the tragedy of violent male culture, and addresses the fact that it's not "just a woman's issue", but a man's issue, a human issue.

I'm happy to find there are men, like Dr. Katz, so passionately addressing the issue of male violence and gender imbalance (to use a nice term for a great worldwide injustice). 


 Sociology 101, First Night of Class

I wanted to like him
This twenty-something ex-Marine
Young enough to be my son
Too young for the things he's seen.

His cragged smile creased his face
Reflecting back the horror
Buried deep in his eyes
His giggle belying his past.

What broken scene makes a man
glorify murder? Causes him to gloat
As he recounts his fun--shooting turtles
On a friend's twenty acre ranch.

What makes him wish he was an infantryman
Because they get away with
Bursting through doors
And killing whatever moves?

What mother ever raised her son
To be this monster?
Laughing as he talks of killing,
As though it's a picnic in the park.

And I, his Jewish sociology teacher
Who takes her sacred obligation
"Thou shalt not murder" seriously,
Pray for a resocialization  miracle.

Debra L. Winegarten
1-14-2014
All rights reserved

Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity

While the social construction of femininity has been widely examined, the dominant role of masculinity has until recently remained largely invisible. Tough Guise is the first educational video geared toward college and high school students to systematically examine the relationship between pop-cultural imagery and the social construction of masculine identities in the U.S.  Jackson Katz argues that widespread violence in American society  needs to be understood as part of an ongoing crisis in masculinity.  http://youtu.be/KTvSfeCRxe8

 

http://youtu.be/3exzMPT4nGI



 

 **  For a powerful interview with Amy Goodman on Domestic Violence - the subject is an HBO Film  "Private Violence: Survivors & Advocates Confront Victim Blaming & the Epidemic of Domestic Abuse" currently at the Sundance Film Festival.

***
Another statistic:  Since the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, CT, there have been at least 35 school shootings in America - here they are.  Every one was instigated by a (young) male.
(source: http://www.demandaction.org/schoolshootings?source=FB00036)

#	Date	City	State	School Name
1.	1/08/2013	Fort Myers	FL	Apostolic Revival Center Christian School
2.	1/10/2013	Taft	CA	Taft Union High School
3.	1/15/2013	St. Louis	MO	Stevens Institute of Business & Arts
4.	1/15/2013	Hazard	KY	Hazard Community and Technical College
5.	1/16/2013	Chicago	IL	Chicago State University
6.	1/22/2013	Houston	TX	Lone Star College North Harris Campus
7.	1/31/2013	Atlanta	GA	Price Middle School
8.	2/13/2013	San Leandro	CA	Hillside Elementary School
9.	2/27/2013	Atlanta	GA	Henry W. Grady HS
10.	3/18/2013	Orlando	FL	University of Central Florida
11.	3/21/2013	Southgate	MI	Davidson Middle School
12.	4/19/2013	Cambridge	MA	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
13.	4/29/2013	Cincinnati	OH	La Salle High School
14.	6/7/2013	Santa Monica	CA	Santa Monica College
15.	6/19/2013	W. Palm Beach	FL	Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
16.	8/15/2013	Clarksville	TN	Northwest High School
17.	8/20/2013	Decatur	GA	Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy
18.	8/23/2013	Sardis	MS	North Panola High School
19.	8/30/2013	Winston-Salem	NC	Carver High School
20.	9/28/2013	Gray	ME	New Gloucester High School
21.	10/4/2013	Pine Hills	FL	Agape Christian Academy
22.	10/15/2013	Austin	TX	Lanier High School
23.	10/21/2013	Sparks	NV	Sparks Middle School
24.	11/1/2013	Algona	IA	Algona High/Middle School
25.	11/2/2013	Greensboro	NC	North Carolina A&T State University
26.	11/3/2013	Stone Mountain	GA	Stephenson High School
27.	11/21/2013	Rapid City	SD	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
28.	12/4/2013	Winter Garden	FL	West Orange High School
29.	12/13/2013	Arapahoe County	CO	Arapahoe High School
30.	1/9/2014	Jackson	TN	Liberty Technology Magnet HS
31.	1/14/2014	Roswell	NM	Berrendo Middle School
32.	1/15/2014	Lancaster	PA	Martin Luther King Jr. ES
33.	1/17/2014	Philadelphia	PA	Delaware Valley Charter HS
34.	1/20/2014	Chester	PA	Widener University
35.	1/21/2014	West Lafayette	IN	Purdue University

Data: These are incidents in which a firearm was fired or brandished on school property, including colleges and universities. Incidents were identified through media reports, so this is likely an undercount of the true total.
Last updated: 01/21/2014