Violence against Women

Violence against Women

Violent masculinity is a socially constructed norm; as indicated in the talk by Katz, society has made violence against women a men’s thing, where men are at the center of the event. The women are always considered the victims, while the men are the perpetrators (Katz, 2012). This is a social construction because some men also go through sexual and domestic violence. In other words, society has made it a norm that when there is sexual or domestic violence, women are always the victims. This social construct is not only made so by the ideologies in society; men also make violent masculinity a socially constructed norm (Katz, 2012).

Dagirmanjian et al.’s (2017) study showed that men are also responsible for socially constructing their acts of violence. This study involved interviewing 12 male adult employees in industrial and manual labor. They were asked about their association with violence and why they engage in violence. This study’s outcome showed that men generally associated their violent conduct with masculinity. This result further confirms what most societies believe: to be a man, one must be violent and rough. Therefore, a common ideology created by society and men is that men are naturally violent and rough. When added to the ideology that men are always the perpetrators of violence against women and that women are victims of men’s violence, one can see that it is a social construct. Most importantly, one should consider that men are also victims of violence, and young men are also affected by violence initiated by their male parents in the family. Hence, it is not a male thing, as stated by Katz.

Consequently, the three cultural explanations that have helped to create the institution of violent masculinity are the traits given to masculinity, what is culturally expected from men, and patriarchy. Traits given to men are that men are supposed to be assertive and demanding. These traits are thus interpreted in the context of violence. Also, culturally, men are expected to be the source of physical security. This means that the men fight to protect and conquer. Thirdly, the dominant culture of patriarchy that places men above women also creates the ideology that men can assert control over women even through force. On the other hand, the structural explanation of violent masculinity involves men’s position in society, the roles of men, and men’s physical qualities. Structurally, most men occupy the leadership positions. Moreover, traditionally, men were political leaders, which gave them a controlling position, thus strengthening violent masculinity. Also, men’s roles involve physical energy, which is believed to involve toughness and roughness., Finally, men’s muscular physique makes society regard them as violent. Hence, the more a man is physically built, the more he is considered tough.

References

Dagirmanjian, F. B., Mahalik, J. R., Boland, J., Colbow, A., Dunn, J., Pomarico, A., & Rappaport, D. (2017). How do men construct and explain men’s violence? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32(15), 2275–2297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515625511

Katz, J. (2012). Violence against women — it’s a men’s issue [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_issue?l%09anguage=en

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Watch Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue: Jackson Katz at TEDxFiDiWomen.
Jackson Katz https://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_issue?language=en

Identify how violent masculinity has become a socially constructed cultural norm. In addition to the video, find at least one scholarly article in the National University Library that explains how cultural messages are used to perpetuate violent masculinity and provides a brief description. Describe at least three cultural and structural explanations that have helped create the institution of violent masculinity.

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