According to author Jackson Katz, despite the substantial gains made through the various take-back-the-night rallies, educational program and general political activism, women will never be able to end the rampant, global sexual discrimination and abuse directed towards their gender...
...at least not by themselves.
That’s because the source of male-on-female abuse arises entirely from the modern understanding of masculinity - a fact that Katz examines in his recent groundbreaking book The Macho Paradox: Why some men hurt women and how all men can help. According to Katz, the impetuous for almost all sexual discrimination lies primarily with men: “it is one thing to focus on the ‘against women’ part of the phrase; but someone’s responsible for doing it, and (almost) everyone knows that it’s overwhelmingly men. Why aren’t people talking about this? Is it realistic to talk about preventing violence against women if no one even wants to say out loud who’s responsible for it?”
Although The Macho Paradox centers on a topic that is generally seen to be a ‘women’s issue,’ Jackson repeatedly emphasises that its target is young males. His goal is to stimulate these men to examine the various facets of popular culture they participate in – the hyper-masculinity portrayed in video games, the rampant sexuality of TV commercials, the re-enactment of abuse in pornography – to determine how these forms of media construct an unrealistic, often violent, notion of manliness. He takes a critical look at a number of structures in North American society – from sports to the education systems – and points to the way in which they train (or facilitate the training of) young men to participate in a larger sexist culture, stopping occasionally to examine the influence of specific individuals such as rap artist Eminem or radio host Howard Stern.
The facts presented in the book alone are staggering. From his chapter on “Facing the Facts,” Katz gives clear evidence for the existence of a widespread, often unacknowledged pandemic of male violence against women. Here are just a few of his findings:
- The Journal of the American Medical Association published one study in 2001 which found that 20 percent of adolescent girls were physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at one point in their lives.
- An estimated 17.7 million women in the United States, nearly 18 percent, have been raped or have been the victim of attempted rape.
- Studies show that between 15 to 38 percent of women and 5 to 16 percent of men experienced some form of sexual abuse as a child.
- The average age at which a child is abused sexually is ten years old.
- In 2000, intimate-partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of murders of women.
- One study found that 70 percent of women with developmental disabilities had been sexually assaulted, and that nearly 50 percent of women with mental retardation had been sexually assaulted ten or more times.
- The estimated annual health-related costs, lost productivity costs, and lost earnings due to intimate partner violence in the U.S. is $5.9 billion.
Through an examination of these figures Katz makes way for the second major theme of the book; it is not enough to simply acknowledge the trend. The book attempts to link social knowledge with social action by outlining some things men can do about these startling trends. The message is clear and direct; men must take an active role in not only changing their own personal actions which perpetuate discrimination against women, but also in engaging the wider culture around them. In essence, this amounts to walking a fine (and sometimes confusing) line between taking an active role in stopping sexism, and supporting those women already existing in anti-sexist leadership/activist positions. Instead of letting women shoulder all of the responsibility for anti-sexist activism, men should strive to become equal partners in ending gender-based violence.
Although no simple laundry list could do the message and arguments of the book justice, according to Katz there are ten major ways that all males can be become active in promoting social gender equality. Taken from his website, they are:
1. Approach gender violence as a MEN'S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers
2. If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner -- or is disrespectful or abusive to girls and women in general -- don't look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don't know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counsellor. DON'T REMAIN SILENT.
3. Have the courage to look inward. Question your own attitudes. Don't be defensive when something you do or say ends up hurting someone else. Try hard to understand how your own attitudes and actions might inadvertently perpetuate sexism and violence, and work toward changing them.
4. If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, gently ask if you can help.
5. If you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, or sexually abusive to women, or have been in the past, seek professional help NOW.
6. Be an ally to women who are working to end all forms of gender violence. Support the work of campus-based women's centers. Attend "Take Back the Night" rallies and other public events. Raise money for community-based rape crisis centers and battered women's shelters. If you belong to a team or fraternity, or another student group, organize a fundraiser.
7. Recognize and speak out against homophobia and gay-bashing. Discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays are wrong in and of themselves. This abuse also has direct links to sexism (e.g. the sexual orientation of men who speak out against sexism is often questioned; a conscious or unconscious strategy intended to silence them. This is a key reason few men do so).
8. Attend programs, take courses, watch films, and read articles and books about multicultural masculinities, gender inequality, and the root causes of gender violence. Educate yourself and others about how larger social forces affect the conflicts between individual men and women.
9. Don't fund sexism. Refuse to purchase any magazine, rent any video, subscribe to any Web site, or buy any music that portrays girls or women in a sexually degrading or abusive manner. Protest sexism in the media.
10. Mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don't involve degrading or abusing girls and women. Volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programs, including anti-sexist men's programs. Lead by example.
The last of these points is the most important. If the current trends of violence and discrimination arise from a cultural ideal which males ‘buy into,’ then only males will be able to reverse them. The first step for change, however, is to recognize who owns the responsibility for the discrimination. As Jackson himself states, “isn’t it about time we had a national conversation about the male causes of this violence, instead of endlessly lingering on its consequences in the lives of women?”
