“Gender violence is seen as a women’s issue that men help out with. I am going to argue that they are men’s issues that women are directly affected by,” – Jackson Katz.
Tuesday night, Jackson Katz, Ph.D., spoke at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU) for the second time. Katz is an educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist, who is known for his focus on the correlation between gender and violence. His TED talk, “Violence against Women — It’s a Men’s Issue,” has been viewed more than three million times.
The event was called “Bad Boys and Bystanders: An Evening with Jackson Katz” and it was sponsored by the Violence and Awareness Response Program (VARP).
Katz began his presentation referring to women’s leadership and how work by feminists changed the conversation surrounding violence.October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). Katz said he doesn’t like the idea of DVAM, because we have had awareness for decades.
“What we need is action,” said Katz.
Improving Men’s Lives with Feminism
Katz made a point to highlight the ways men’s lives have improved, because of feminist leadership.
He said that we often hear about children “witnessing” domestic violence. Katz explained that this language is dangerous, because the experiences of trauma affect children forever; this makes the child a victim not a witness. He continued to address the correlation between domestic violence and behavior patterns between men and women who have experienced trauma as children.
“It’s the boys who become abusive later in life, girls are more likely to self-harm,” said Katz. He explained that these differences in how trauma affects men and women are not genetic, but are a system of gender socialization.
Feminist research has opened up the conversation of male sexual victimization. Katz said this is something has been happening forever, but only recognized for the past 15 years.
Katz created the first gender violence prevention program in the US Marine Corps, in 1997.
He said his work with the military shows that victims of sexual violence are both men and women, whereas the perpetrators are overwhelmingly men.
Katz explained that feminist women in the 1970’s opening up spaces to talk about violence against men and recognizing that male victims deserve compassion.
Healthcare is another area where men have benefited from the work of feminist women. Feminists in the ’70s created the Women’s Health Movement, branching from that was the Men’s Health Movement. This opened up the conversation of men’s emotional, psychological, relational and sexual health, said Katz.
“Feminism is as American as apple pie,” said Katz. He said we need more men to pay attention, “Adult men. It is on us to stand with women.”
The Role Language Plays
“Part of the paradigm shift includes looking at language,” said Katz.
The phrase “Violence against Women” is problematic, because it reiterates the idea that this violence is a women’s issue, said Katz, “It removes the active agent, which is men.”
Katz spoke about our culture’s use of passive voice as a form of victim blaming. He said that we hear how many “women were raped,” “girls were harassed” and “teenage girls have gotten pregnant,” rather than men who have raped, harassed, or impregnated women.
Katz said this political affect shifts focus and accountability as a tactic of power.
Women have resorted to gender neutral language when describing men’s violence against women, due to fear of backlash, said Katz. He explained that the reason for male defensiveness is related to masculinity and the way our culture constructs ideologies and socializes norms, defining manhood.
Katz stressed the importance of men speaking out against toxic masculinity. It is an opportunity for them to use their privilege in instances where men can be heard when saying things that women get pushback for.
There is also the breakdown of journalism language. Reporters tend to stray from the word “victim” in order to distance themselves from potential bias, because it implies pre-judgement in a court of law. Instead we tend to see “alleged victim.” Katz pointed out that the word “alleged” is not used for other crimes, like theft.
The term “accuser” has also become acceptable lately, which is a cultural step backwards, because it puts blame on the victim.
Katz said that that the typical perpetrator looks normal and this idea makes people feel uncomfortable. He connected this to racism, saying that we tend to associate violence with foreign cultures, but when it is committed by white people we consider it an abnormal occurrence.
The link between violence in our culture and gender is something that Jackson Katz has devoted his life to exposing. It is imbedded in our institutions and impacts us all.
“Not everyone plays the same role with the same dialogue. We have different social positions and different responsibilities,” said Katz. “The heart of prevention work is working with men.”