WIN Wyoming

Thought Bullets
for
March 2005

Last month I attended a program on the University of Wyoming campus presented by Jackson Katz. Katz is considered to be one of America’s "leading anti-sexist male activists." He is convinced all of us can effect social change through our reactions to everyday occurrences. For this month’s thought bullets, I share some of the highlights from the program that I found to be especially insightful and thought-challenging.

• Historically, gender violence has been seen as a woman’s issue, and that according to Katz, is part of the problem. As long as gender violence is seen as a woman’s issue, it is too easy for men to ignore it. The vast majority of men are not perpetrators of gender violence, but they are still affected by the issue due to mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, and wives being victims of gender violence. Indeed, many men and their male friends are victims of gender violence. Until we engage men in the solution to gender violence, we are doomed to fail.
• Gender roles are fluid and change over time. We need to quit thinking and acting like they are not changeable. Many media roles for men are currently based on dominance, both dominance over women and dominance over other men. Gender roles are taught, and therefore by extension, harmful gender roles can be untaught.
• It is not enough for a man to say, "I’m a good guy. I don’t beat or rape women." The bar for being a good guy must be raised. Katz suggests that the new definition of a good guy must include the concept that a good guy does not allow mistreatment of women by his family, friends, or co-workers.
• It is not only women who fear aggressive, dominant men. Katz points out that men fear other men and this part of the complex issue of aggressive male dominance is seldom, if ever, discussed.
• One of the important reasons to include men in the efforts to address gender violence is so that men who are currently ignoring the issue can be included in the discussion and solution. These men may never engage in the discussion until there are male role models (like Jackson Katz and others). If only women are discussing the issue, too many men will never hear their voices.
  • Side-note: To illustrate this point, of the several hundred people attending the program on campus, the majority were males. Would the audience make-up have changed if the subject matter stayed the same but the featured speaker were female?
• Name calling has been an effective tool in silencing people who speak up against gender violence and other social issues. Historically, women who have championed the gender violence cause have been subjected to brutal name calling. Men who champion the cause are now also subjected to cruel name calling. A true test of strength of character is doing what is right, even if you are targeted for name calling. Name calling (or fear of name calling) often keeps men silent, and they become bystanders of gender violence (although they are not the perpetrators of violence, they see it happening and do nothing to stop it.) We must redefine the concept of male strength to include speaking up against any form of violence against others.
• Men need more multidimensional roles on the big screen. Being male is much more than being muscular, tough, in control, and carrying the biggest firearm. Katz showed images of big screen male roles and noted how the body image had changed over the years to an unrealistic standard of muscularity. He showed body images of several super heroes (Batman, Superman, GI Joe, etc.) at the time they were introduced to the world, compared to how they look today. Without exception, the increase in muscularity was dramatic. He also compared the roles Humphrey Bogart played with those of Arnold Schwarzenegger and noted the size of the biceps increased proportionally with the size of the firearm.
• Katz biggest fear with the level of violence on TV and in the movies is not the fear of imitation (although a few viewers do imitate the violence they see), but rather the biggest damage comes from the normalization and desensitization of gender violence, and that affects us all. As an example of this normalization of violence, during his program Katz showed video clips of professional wrestling and specifically males violently attacking females. Acts of brutality that should outrage us are now so common that few of us are even offended by the scenes.
• One of Katz’s favorite sayings is this: A man of quality is never threatened by a woman of equality.

Source: Pop culture, Masculinity and Gender Violence, presentation by Jackson Katz, University of Wyoming campus, Union Ballroom, February 21, 2005.

Compiled by Betty Holmes, MS, RD, Senior University Extension Educator, University of Wyoming; bholmes@uwyo.edu

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