lesson: masculinity and violence robert wonser. milford, connecticut, chris plaskon asked maren...

Lesson: Masculinity and Violence

Robert Wonser

Milford, Connecticut, Chris Plaskon asked Maren Sanchez to attend prom with him at the end of the year at Jonathan Law High School. They’d known each other since 6th grade. Maren said no. Witnesses told authorities she declined and told Chris she would be attending the dance with her boyfriend (here). Chris knew Maren had a boyfriend and, likely, that she’d be attending with him. After being turned down, Chris threw his hands around Maren’s throat, pushed her down a set of stairs, and cut and stabbed her with a kitchen knife he’d brought to school that day. It was April 25, 2014. Maren got to school just a bit after 7:00 that day and before 8:00, she was dead.

2Lesson: Masculinity and Violence

Psychologically Disturbed?

Jackson Katz tells us that we need to think about these tragedies as contemporary forms of masculinity.

When young men have their masculinity sullied, threatened or denied, they respond by reclaiming masculinity through a highly recognizable masculine practice: violence.

When events like this happen, it’s easy to paint the young men who perpetuate these crimes as psychologically disturbed, as—importantly—unlike the rest of us. But, stories like Chris Plaskon follow what has become

a predictable pattern.


Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence: Random School Shootings, 1982-2001 Since 1982, there have been 28 cases of random school

shootings in American high schools and middle schools. Kimmel and Mahler find (a) that the shootings were not a national problem but a

series of local problems that occurred in “red states” or counties (places that voted Republican in the 2000 election);

(b) that most of the boys who opened fire were mercilessly and routinely teased and bullied and that their violence was retaliatory against the threats to manhood;


(c) that White boys in particular might be more likely than African American boys to randomly open fire; and

(d) that the specific content of the teasing and bullying is homophobia. A link between adolescent masculinity,

homophobia, and violence is proposed.

Lesson: Masculinity and Violence 5

Social Identity Threat

When you threaten someone’s social identity, and they care, they respond by over-demonstrating qualities that illustrate membership in that identity.

Michael Kimmel writes about a classic example: “I have a standing bet with a friend that I can walk onto

any playground in America where 6 year-old boys are happily playing and by asking one question, I can provoke a fight. That question is simple: “Who’s a sissy around here?””


Masculinity Threat

By asking the question, Kimmel is inviting someone’s masculinity to be threatened and assuming that this will require someone to demonstrate their masculinity in dramatic fashion. Sociologists have a name for this phenomenon: masculinity threat.

New research relying on experimental designs suggests there’s a lot more to these claims than we might have thought.


Christin Munsch and Robb Willer conducted an experiment to see whether gender identity threats might affect perceptions of sexual coercion.

Their study clearly showed that when college-aged men’s masculinity is threatened, they are much more likely to espouse attitudes supportive of sexual assault or coercion.

In a nutshell, men who might feel they have to demonstrate their masculinity are less likely to see sexual coercion as sexually coercive and much more likely to blame the victim (a woman) in the scenario.


Masculine Overcompensation Thesis The masculine overcompensation thesis asserts that men

react to masculinity threats with extreme demonstrations of masculinity.

In study 1, men and women were randomly given feedback suggesting they were either masculine or feminine. Women showed no effects when told they were masculine; however, men given feedback suggesting they were feminine expressed more support for war, homophobic attitudes, and interest in purchasing an SUV.

Study 2 found that threatened men expressed greater support for, and desire to advance in, dominance hierarchies.


Masculine Overcompensation Thesis Study 3 showed in a large-scale survey on a diverse

sample that men who reported that social changes threatened the status of men also reported more homophopic and prodominance attitudes, support for war, and belief in male superiority.

Finally, study 4 found that higher testosterone men showed stronger reactions to masculinity threats than those lower in testosterone. Together, these results support the masculine overcompensation thesis, show how it can shape political and cultural attitudes, and identify a hormonal factor influencing the effect.


Over-Conformists to Masculinity

When we hear about cases in the news like the savage murder of Maren Sanchez, the easy way of dealing with this is to look for all of the signs that Chris Plaskon is not “one of us.”

But, Katz and Kimmel suggest that we ought to think about these men not as failing at masculinity, but as “over-conforming,” and this research supports those claims.


A Learned Behavior

For a long time, feminist scholars and activists that talked about violence among boys and men as “learned behavior.”

Violence is also a “taught behavior.” And these lessons are not just taught by individuals, they’re a part of all

manner of social institutions; they structure the ways we learn to think about, recognize, and enact masculinity in our daily lives.

We simply can’t think about violence apart from gender. Boys and young men who participate in the kinds of violence enacted upon

Maren Sanchez show startlingly strong patterns. While many are much more socially ostracized that it seems Chris was, the

common factor is that they perceive their masculinity as having been threatened (by other boys and young men, by lack of recognition to which they feel entitled from other women, and more).


The Solution?

This research suggests that protecting boys and young men from masculinity threats is an incomplete solution.

Rather, real change would require investment in new ideals surrounding masculinity not predicated on dominance and violence.

Doing so can only result in a safer world for all of our kids.


lesson: masculinity and violence robert wonser. milford, connecticut, chris plaskon asked maren...

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