Week 5 - "Tough Guise" reactions

In "Tough Guise," Jackson Katz is examining the image of masculinity and calling for a societal shift. He frames it more as a cultural shift, but our culture defines our society, so let's be straightforward: it's a big ask. Every societal shift this country has experienced has come from the counterculture, and it started with: "I am not a straight white man. How do I get to vote? Or, stop white men from owning me? Or avoid being violently murdered, for not being a straight white man?" These are good incentives for change. Where can the push come from, for changing the image of masculinity? Men like me are not some "other," we are not the counterculture: we're the culture. We're on top. No one is oppressing us.* We could be nebulous and conceptual and say "we oppress ourselves" or "the expectations of our society oppress us," but that's a terrible protest sign, and that's only after you convince people that anything is wrong.

* - yes, I know, I have people all over my facebook feed posting "Just got screwed over because I'm not politically correct, I guess being a white male is a crime now." These people are idiots.

Disenfranchisement is a powerful engine for change. And it's not obvious, but there is something being taken away from men by the image of violent masculinity: it limits our choices. It limits what we can be, what we can do. Little boys still hit a point in their development when they decide they can't be teachers, they can't be nurses, those are girl jobs. A grown man that learned "violence" as his problem-solver will get into situations where he has no other moves available to him. In his presentation, Katz quite rightly singles out heroes like Mark McGuire and Adam Horowitz who model a different image without diminishing their stature.** That helps on the large scale.

** - McGuire did diminish, later, and in a way that links into this topic, but that's a whole other thing.

What helps on the small scale was described in this week's reading and on the PBS page: watch TV with your children, and when a character solves their problems with violence, encourage them to question it. "How else could he have solved this? What would you do?" This trains kids to be active participants in the culture, instead of just consumers. Giving kids the skills to question what they are told is the best way to build a counterculture.