Former NFL defensive lineman turned motivational speaker and life-skills coach, Joe Ehrmann, provides a succinct, powerful, and informative presentation on hegemonic (or toxic) masculinity. Ehrmann explains that the phrase “be a man” makes up the three most harmful words every man/boy hears throughout their lifetime. He outlines the traditional view of masculinity as harmful, by requiring…
Men’s violence against women has become such an ingrained dynamic of our culture, we often fail to see the ways in which it has become normalized and invisiblized. Everything from pop culture to the way language is constructed about domestic violence and sexual assault serves to hide men as perpetrators, placing the onus of responsibility…
In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, Soraya Chemaly works to connect the dots between white male socialization–entitlement, power, control–and mass shootings that occur as a result of “aggrieved entitlement” when reality does not meet expectation. Elements of sexual and domestic violence can be seen in the histories of mass shooters. Without…
In the United States, power-based interpersonal violence, including domestic and sexual violence, occurs in every community, among every demographic of people. However, there are unique manifestations of violence perpetrated by white men. While it often begins intimately–targeting a partner or family member–it may carry over into the public sphere. With few notable exceptions, acts of…
Having become so normalized that we fail to see it, fail to recognize the ways we are complicit in its perpetuation, fail to acknowledge the ways–both subtle and overt–that we uphold it, rape culture requires direct and explicit naming. Shakesville provides an essential, and brutally direct, explanation defining rape culture. – Brett Goldberg Read the…
The first step in working to undo systems of oppression is to recognize the ways in which we benefit from the system, or are given a place of unearned privilege based on our race, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. White straight men are dealt a pretty hefty stack of cards upon their birth. Societal norms…
We speak of rape culture because it is crucial to recognize the often public nature of normalized violence in the United States. Street harassment for example occurs in public, in plain view of bystanders and witnesses. It can be argued, as scholar Michael Flood does, that the performance of masculinity, as evidences by acts of…