Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity

[HuskiesHowls]

4. Its so much more than just violence that needs to be addressed.

Just watch TV. Notice how many ads put men down, make them out as the dummies. Now watch any show, and this can go all the way back to Ozzie and Harriet and The Honeymooners. Notice how many times the men are made the butt of the joke, as being the unthinking one, the clueless one. The women are always great at taking care of everything, and getting the messes (that the men get into) straightened out.

The violence comes because men are lashing out in the only way they know how. The media shows them how, and the real problem is that there are not enough good role models to show them better ways of reacting.

It's a big, huge cultural issue. Its brought on by a paternalistic society, where males are taught from little up that they have to be the provider, that they are responsible for the family. And to add to that, (most) females are brought up to believe that they should be provided for (whether they will admit it or not). No, we're not directly taught that, but I can see those issues in my own actions and thoughts, and I see them in the women in my life. I can trace these back to what I saw on TV as a kid, the way society worked then, what I saw going on around me.

It is so much more. I just thank God that I learned some before my son was grown, and I could help him to become a mature, thinking young man.