Went to a lecture last night by Jackson Katz, which was centered on male violence toward women.  It was interesting to see a man speaking on gender issues, and likewise he did come at it from a very different angle.  His premise is that things like this shouldn’t be called women’s issues, or even gender issues, but men’s issues.  He gave several reasons for this, like the fact that the vast majority of violence/abuse is perpetrated by men, and therefore it’s an issue with the male culture of violence.  What struck home for me was when he said when it’s labelled “women’s issues” or even “gender issues,” men tend to automatically ignore it and assume it doesn’t apply to them.  I realized that I’ve been guilty of that, myself.

What was also interesting is that Katz is a very “manly” man — college football player, solid-looking guy with a square jaw and stubble, the whole nine yards.  It was an odd contrast hearing a guy like that talk about these sorts of issues, and I think that probably helps the effectiveness of his programs.  Hearing this same message from an effeminate guy, for example, wouldn’t have nearly the same impact.

One really interesting thing that he demonstrated was the image of males in the media.  We often hear about how women are pressured to be this ideal Barbie-like form, but he showed some examples of the image of men changing, too.  Professional wrestlers, for example, used to be big guys overall, but also a little tubby.  These days, they’re steroid-infused freakshows.  And the best example was toys — he showed an example of a Luke Skywalker figure from the 70’s, versus one from the 90’s.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a great one from the 90’s, but I think you can tell the difference here, regardless.

70’s:
70's Luke Skywalker

90’s.  Check out these pecs:
90\'s Luke Skywalker

Katz works with the Marines, high school and college sports organizations, and other such groups to curb violence against women.  He said that one really important factor was to create a culture in those groups where it’s not okay to abuse/mistreat women.  I found this to already be true in a lot of groups that I’ve been in — both friend groups, and sporting groups.  There has always seemed to be a general attitude of, “If some guy hurts a girl, I’ll kick his fucking ass.”

In fact, I knew a guy in middle school named Andy, who was 2 years ahead of me.  For a while he was sort of a big brother/mentor to me, and he was involved in a group that essentially acted as vigilantes.  He told me a story once of how they took a crowbar to the knees of a guy who physically abused his girlfriend.  Of course, I could never know if any of it was actually true, or if he was just trying to win my awe (he was successful, if so), but in either case it shows the sort of counter-abuse culture that Katz was talking about.  Though granted, probably taken a few steps past what he intends.

There were a lot of other neat points in the lecture, but I won’t go into them all here.  Suffice to say, it made me think about some things differently than I had before.  He came at it from a viewpoint similar to that in Boondock Saints.  “I don’t hit or rape girls,” isn’t really saying much of anything.  If you see injustice happening, and do nothing about it, then you’re essentially condoning it.