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As the nation continues to process the February 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, where 17 students were killed and 15 others were injured in their South Florida school, people are using social media as a megaphone to insist that America’s history of mass shootings, specifically in schools, is a gun control issue, a mental health problem, and/or a matter of growing disrespect for authority, education and community.
However, one topic that isn’t in the spotlight nearly as much is the fact that practically all of the mass murderers in recent American history have one thing in common: they are men.
The perpetrators all range in background, age, and religious affiliation, but they are predominantly men.
In fact, an article by Harper’s Bazaar states of all the mass shootings since 1982, only three have been committed by women. One of those being the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack in which a man also participated.
So, is masculinity and gun violence linked?
Social science suggests that when men feel an aspect of their identity is threatened (i.e. masculinity) they resort to displaying an exaggerated sense of self. Applied to gender, this exaggeration is called hypermasculinity.
According to Colorado State University’s Women and Gender Advocacy Center’s “Man Box,” socially expected values and expectations for men include “strong,” “intimidating,” “scares people,” and “never shows weakness,” among others. These expectations teach boys and men within our culture that violence is an expression of one’s strength.
Perpetrators of mass shootings often have a history of domestic or family violence against the people in their lives. Everytown for Gun Safety found that 54 percent of mass shootings were related to domestic or family violence when analyzing shootings between January 2009 and December 2016. Additionally, the group found that 42 percent of the perpetrators exhibited warning signs prior to the shootings, such as “acts, attempted acts or threats of violence towards oneself or others.”
Sociologist Eric Madifs suggests that the connection between masculinity and gun violence may also exist because of sociocultural beliefs of how men are expected to deal with stress.
In an article with Politico on the issue, Madif said, “‘Women tend to internalize blame and frustration, while men tend to externalize it through acts of aggression.’” Madif also noted that many men who commit mass murder have not achieved “financial and romantic success in ways that our society values and accredits as ‘manly.’”
Perhaps these men resort to violence for revenge or to complicate for what they felt they were owed or felt societal pressure to achieve. Examples include James Holmes, who opened fire in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado after he failed out of his Ph.D. program or Dylann Roof, who was unemployed when he opened fire on nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina church.
The impacts of mass shootings extend far beyond those whose lives were taken. It affects their families, friends, the survivors and the public at large. These events can and do happen anywhere- schools, concerts, nightclubs, movie theaters, to name a few.
But violence is starting in American homes. With physical, mental, and emotional abuse against intimate partners, spouses and children. It’s starting when we introduce expectations and values and then attach those values to one’s identity and worth.
As the nation searches for answers to end these senseless acts of violence, perhaps we, as a society, should acknowledge the expectations we are placing on groups and the long-term impacts these expectations can have as a result.