In “Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue” the author, Jackson Katz, really connects the audience to the fact that we live in a society that almost promotes violence towards women, and that women, or victims, are not to blame for this. First of all, Katz discusses that violence against women really is a men's issue. It is important to note that women are the vast majority of victims of domestic and sexual abuse while men are the majority or preparations. To illustrate this fact, Katz states that “over 99% of rape is perpetrated by men” (Katz 343). Women of all ages and ethnicities either experience these types of abuse on a regular basis or are constantly living in fear of it. When we evaluate why this abuse and fear happens we have to …show more content…
Good guys often dissociate themselves from violence against women because they believe they aren’t directly contributing to the problem. However, all men are a part of the patriarchal society we live in whether they believe this a positive system or not. The idea of masculinity in society and the general roles of men are the main reason violence against women is prevalent and normalized. For example, when men are talked about when concerning their involvement in violence against women, they are typically considered to be the few odd and disturbed men rather than focusing on masculine culture. Katz even states that “It’s much less daunting simply to blame “sick” individuals for the problem, as opposed to evaluating the way our culture celebrates masculinity. In addition, we always have excuses for men treating women this way. We say he had a bad childhood, or can’t handle his alcohol in order to condone his bad behaviour because that is easier than accepting that our society promotes males exercising and proving their manhood through violence (Katz 345.) Katz even states, “since men are the dominant sex, violence against women serves to reinforce this dominance, it is not in men’s best interest to reduce violence against women” (Katz 345). How can we expect violence against women to stop when it is so deeply rooted in male social …show more content…
Men need to be involved in this discussion for any real change to occur, and hearing these things from a male perspective, I believe, will allow other males to feel less attacked and defensive. We need more public male voices discussing anti-women’s violence in order to have men realize that even if they aren’ directly abusing women they still contribute to society. I don’t think men should feel guilty about living in a hyper masculine society as long as they recognize the issue and try to stop
In today’s society, there is evidence that gender roles hold high standards in forming an identity, whether that gender is male or female. These standards put pressure on either gender to uphold them and commit to specific behaviors/actions that validate their very being. For men, this includes being considered masculine, or portraying the sense that they are authoritative over others, in which this includes displaying attitudes that contribute to female subordination. According to Pascoe (2016) in his article “Good Guys Don’t Rape” men are given the opportunity to challenge rape yet reinforce rape attitudes at the same time that are contained within rape culture and masculinity considered “norms.” Pascoe, illustrates that rape can be seen
National data gives us an indication of the severity of this issue. When 1 in 5-woman report being victims of severe physical violence (NISVS, 2010), we must ask ourselves if enough is being done to prevent this from occurring. From a historical point, there has always almost been a distinction from men on woman violence. Based on the disparity of cases reported, male inflicted violence on females is much higher and prevalent. When the perpetrators of DV, and IPV are predominately males, we can no longer dismissed this issue as a cultural, or
Women’s participation in school or the workplace are negatively affected because of the fear of violence, and many long-term health consequences arise from physical and sexual abuse. Heartbreakingly, a woman in South Africa has a “greater chance of being raped than she has of learning to read” (Tracy 6). In the patriarchal society of China, infants or fetuses face death simply for being born female (Tracy 18). After reading the reported incidences of violence against women, it is nothing but frustrating to hear women not supporting feminism. They do not need feminism because they represent a victory for this movement with the freedom to work alongside men, attend school, and choose their life partners. However, as shown in International Violence Against Women, there are many women and girls begging for a change. This population is the next victory for
Domestic violence has been plaguing our society for years. There are many abusive relationships, and the only question to ask is: why? The main answer is control. The controlling characteristic that males attribute to their masculinity is the cause to these abusive relationships. When males don’t have control they feel their masculinity is threatened and they need to do something about it. This doesn’t occur in just their relationships, but rather every facet of life. Men are constantly in a struggle for power and control whether it is at work, home, during sports, or in a relationship, this remains true. So the only way for them to get this power is for them to be “men”; tough, strong, masculine, ones that demand and take power. Where is this thirst for control coming from? Is it the natural structure of a man or is it a social construct? The answer is that it’s the social construction of a patriarchy that results in this thirst for control due to fear. The fear is being emasculated, whether it is by gayness, or femininity. Men use the fear created from domestic violence to gain control, but yet women do have some control in a relationship it is this vague boundary of how much control that leads to domestic violence.
As it is in the case of the majority of violent crimes, (Davies and Rogers, 2006) perpetrators of violent crimes, and especially sexual assault related crimes exert additional force by threatening the victim or their families. Male victims also must contend with an additional sense of shame and embarrassment in being identified with a crime that has been typically portrayed in the media as happening to women. This places men at a disadvantage in the reporting process, because their safety and the safety of others is compromised further if the crime is not reported. (Messerschmitt, 2009)
In the past century, America has made great leaps in terms of equality. With the efforts made by the civil rights and suffrage movements, all people gained the right to vote. We are even moving forward with marriage equality, and currently fifteen states recognize same-sex marriage. But regardless of all of our progressive institutional movements forward, we continue to socially oppress women. Men’s violence against women has grown to be an internationally recognized epidemic, and will continue to grow unless measures be made to stop it. Domestic violence continues to be prevalent in the lives of many families, and is the primary cause of homelessness in half of cases for women in children. Many women have been forced to alter their behaviors out of fear of being sexually or physically assaulted. One out of every three women is sexually or physically abused in their lifetimes. The first thing that comes to mind is, there are a lot of people abusing women out there. Many people with opposing ideas may claim that men can be victims of violence perpetrated by women, but in instances not used for self-defense, it is rarely part of a systematic pattern of power and control through force or threat of force. In fact, 99% of rape is perpetrated by men, but when confronting men about the issue of violence against women, it is often combated with denial. Jackson Katz writes in his book, The Macho Paradox, “We take comfort in the idea of the aforementioned child-rapist murderer as a horrible aberration. A monster. We’re nothing like him.”(Katz 30). The sad truth is that most women who are raped are raped by men they know, or even men they love. Many men have a hard time believing that saying that most violence is perpetuated by men does not...
Due to men’s fear from authoritative figures and their female abusers they keep silent on their experience with domestic violence; because of this silence domestic violence in men is not completely recognized throughout the world. “Also DV against men often goes unrecognized since men are probably less likely than women to report such incidents for fear of embarrassment, fear of ridicule and the lack of available support services (Barber 2008).” (Drijber, Reijnders & Ceelen, 2013)
Domestic Violence Statistics states, “Around the world, at least one in every 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime” (1). The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as, “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner” (para. 1). Domestic violence is a crime that numerous citizens fall victim to in every country. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence regardless of race, gender, sexuality or religion. Being a victim of domestic violence can affect a person’s way of life permanently and the way these victims interact with other people can become a difficult task and can eventually affect their future. Domestic violence is substantially wrong because it can cause drastic permanent effects in a person’s life, can cause physical, emotional and intellectual damage, and affects a child’s state of mind of what is normal and what is not if they are in a domestic violent atmosphere. While women are usually victims of domestic violence, men are victims of this crime as well. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney states that, “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, men account for approximately fifteen percent of the victims of reported intimate partner crimes” (Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, par.1). Physical, emotional, economic and physiological abuses are all forms of domestic violence that many people would consider to fall under another crime. There are many crimes that many citizens commit, but domestic violence is one of many that should not be taken lightly.
Historically, domestic violence has been a devastating social problem affecting individuals from every segment of the American society irrespective of race, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, nationality and economic status. Although, men to a smaller extent experience domestic violence, it is usually understood as a women 's issue; which inadvertently affects children. Approximately, 85 to 95% of victims are females (Laney, 2010). Every 9 seconds in the United States, a woman is assaulted or beaten (National Domestic Violence Statistics, 2014). 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner and 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are females. Moreover, 9.4% of women in the United States have been raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime (National Domestic Violence Statistics, 2014). Intimate partner violence
It is common knowledge that Ray Rice used his wife as a punching bag in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. What is truely remarkable is that his fiancé became his wife after that vicious left hook to the face left her unconscious. Why do women stay with men who beat them unconscious? Domestic violence is a serious and complex plague of society that affects all, but women make up the largest number of victims in most case studies. In the United States alone, '1.5 million women are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year. More than 500,000 women victims require medical treatment, and 324,000 victims are pregnant at the time of assault' (Berlinger, 'Taking' 42). Numbers like these show how intense the situation of domestic violence truly is. 'Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner and domestic violence accounts for 22% of all recorded violent crimes' (Jamil 70). Domestic violence takes such a large number in percentages regarding violent crimes, yet often is dismissed by many with the idea that 'this won't happen to me'. Somehow, somewhere, domestic violence will touch everyone whether by someone they know or by televised publication. Though domestic violence affects men as well, the female subject is more often the victim. Domestic violence has a continuous cycle that has been influenced since birth and can be stopped with intervention but each victim's reason for staying will vary.
Society is so focused on discrimination against women, on the crimes against women that injustices towards men are overlooked, ignored, or completely denied. Men are so stereotyped as the villain that no one sees how they are becoming the victims. Misandry is real, misandry is pervasive, and in many ways misandry is more dangerous than misogyny. People recognize misogyny, we see it, hate it, and fight it. But misandry is more of a threat because it is unseen, it corrupts society, relationships, futures and no one seems to know it exists. No one sees it, so no one stops it.
Every day, women are harassed in the street simply for being women. Every time a woman steps out the house, she runs the risk of being shouted at or assaulted, even in broad daylight. It is not only socially acceptable for men to catcall women, but when a woman feels uncomfortable from it, she is more often than not told to take it as a compliment. Even as children, when a girl comes home and complains about boys picking on her, the behavior is often dismissed as “boys just being boys,” or she is told he probably “has a crush on her.” Dismissing abusive behavior, simply because the abuser is male, is unacceptable.
For centuries, the issue of spousal or partner abuse has been concealed from the culture at large, and this general lack of knowledge lead to the formation of myths and untruths, which still permeate our society today. Most of us still hold on to the old notions about domestic violence. Now we wonder who are the victims and who are the perpetrators. Socialization and enculturation play significant roles, but patriarchy societies aim is to control women. This is not random violence. Women are targets because of their sex, and the risk factor is being female. The myths in The United States raise questions about these victims and perpetrators are that they lack education, take drugs or alcohol, and have low self-esteem.
Society influences the socioeconomic inequalities between people, which usually results in differing social and cultural norms surrounding violence. These norms might include male dominance over women, while certain cultural norms might support violence and claim it to be a reasonable method to resolve conflicts in neighborhoods. We see this shown in the film because they talk about how violence is a two step process. The first part is the thought that, ‘I have a grievance with someone’, and the second part is that the grievance justifies violence (James et al.,
Finally, we need to shine a light into dark corners, where the women abusers don’t want you to look. Darkness is the friend to fear, violence, and verbal assault. No woman should believe that they deserve to be treated inhumanely by any person. No excuse validates any type of anger or violence against women. No word or acts are so powerful that a woman should lose their self-esteem and soul. Any form of violence against women such as domestic violence, verbal assault, or gender inequality is a problem that affects a great number of women in our nation. It should never be tolerated. We need to create a culture where gender inequality is not tolerated. Where men and women can aspire as far as their dreams can take them.