First, let’s get a few things out of the way. I am not a nice guy. For a few reasons.
- In recent years, I haven’t heard the word “nice” used to describe a person as a compliment — not a man, at least. “Nice” is the word that precedes a phrase starting with the conjunction “but”. It has a connotation of “Yeh, no.”
- If you had any idea what goes on in my head….
- My motives are never fully pure or altruistic. It’s always complicated. I’m a human being and a dude.
So I’m not the most enlightened person in the world, is what I’m saying. I’m not a guy who claims to be a male feminist or a social justice ally. Those labels mean a lot of things to a lot of people and they can and do duke it out over who’s doing it right to their heart’s content.
Also, I start a lot more blog entries than I finish so I don’t want anyone to think that I don’t care about all the other madness going on in the world. I usually don’t post about something until I’ve given it a lot of thought and, frankly, I can’t keep up.
In the past few weeks in the news I’ve seen some stuff, boy, and it bothers the hell out of me. It just keeps building up so I need to vent. (It was the mutilation one that did me in.) There was a lot of talk a while back about a “war on women”: maternity issues, equal pay, contraception, abortion, and other lofty social issues. Strong language, for sure. A striking rhetorical device.
I’m not talking about rhetorical devices, though. I’m talking about a physically (and emotionally and psychologically) hostile culture. Well, maybe it’s a bit more complicated than that. The line between desire/hatred and between respect/resentment is thin and razor sharp.
Let’s get to it. Here are some articles in the news recently. I tried to keep it to 2016 but some are older. Brace yourself. Trigger warnings. Horrific inhumanity ahead. In no particular order or grouping, and crossing all boundaries of countries, cultures, religions, races, and ethnicities:
Student killed at J’Ouvert wanted man to stop grinding on her: cops
Mother of Two Killed by Boyfriend and His Friend Because “She Would Not Submit”
These 14 Women Were Brutally Attacked for Rejecting Men — Why Aren’t We Talking About It?
Family Members Overpower Convicted Sex Offender Who Climbed Into Girls’ Bedroom: Report
Man Who Sexually Assaulted 12-Year-Old Serves 17 Days in Jail
Man Who Repeatedly Raped His 12-Year-Old Daughter Released to Repair Relationship With His Sons
French Journalist Faces Outrage After He Kissed a Non-Consenting Woman’s Breast on Live TV
Thousands in Argentina Protest Following Rape and Torture of Teenage Girl
Why Are So Many White Male Rapists Avoiding Jail Time? (11 men and cases cited in this article)
Iraqi woman stoned to death for refusing to marry ISIS jihadist
Robbers thrash parents, drag out 12-year-old, gangrape her on the outskirts of Lucknow
India’s Daughter: The gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh
Gang-rape survivor shot at on way to court
College girl gang-raped by boyfriend, others
70-yr-old woman gang-raped, bleeds to death
REPORTED LIST OF INCIDENTS INVOLVING UBER AND LYFT
Police charge boyfriend with killing woman while holding child on her lap
Family of Five, Including Pregnant Woman, Killed for Protecting Woman From Boyfriend
Georgia woman killed by boyfriend in front of her four children and mother
Cops: Woman killed by boyfriend in Germantown
Woman Killed in DC Home Had Restraining Order Against Ex-Boyfriend
Police search for body of Bronx woman after boyfriend allegedly admits to killing her
Boyfriend charged in Lake Station woman’s death
Ex-Boyfriend Sought as ‘Person of Interest’ in Stabbing Death of Pico Rivera Teen Girl: LASD
The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia (2013)
- In 2009, nine men in a Bolivian Mennonite community were jailed for raping at least 100 women and girls
- The gang used a powerful sedative adapted from a tranquilizer to drug households before carrying out the attacks at Manitoba Colony
- Women were not initially believed despite waking to blood-soaked sheets
- Despite the convictions, it has emerged attacks in the colony have continued
I COULD GO ON
I could go on like this every day. And I know you could cherry pick any group, post a lot of links and make it seem like an epidemic. But the stats speak for themselves. This is real.
More than 1,600 Women Murdered by Men in One Year, New Study Finds. This is just in the US and only includes murder. It doesn’t include non-fatal domestic violence, physical and sexual assaults. It doesn’t account for stalking, intimidation, and harrassment.
At Least A Third Of All Women Murdered In The U.S. Are Killed By Male Partners (2014). With the sobering quote: “Over 18,000 Women Were Killed By Men Since 2003″
These new stats reveal the horrifying scale of domestic violence in Australia (2015)
If I remember my stats correctly, domestic violence calls are the most dangerous calls for police officers and are most likely to to be fatal for a police officer compared to other calls. That may be outdated info, though. Check me on that.
Obviously, I’m not trying to paint all men as evil, sadistic brutes. Most are not. Even though it seems like half of us men have some messed up attitudes towards women. And women can be vile, too. No question.
Men are the victims of violence, too. Mostly from other men and at a far higher rate than women. There are very real, human consequences that we shouldn’t ignore or make light of.
It’s my perception — I’m sure I’m not the only one — that women have it pretty good in the US compared to many other countries. I have to generalize to say that because some groups of women have it much easier than others. But no one is immune from a culture riddled with toxic attitudes.
I almost forgot to mention sexual assault in the military. Big sigh. I mean, come the f*ck on.
http://www.protectourdefenders.com/factsheet/
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
There’s a quote that comes up on women’s issues websites often:
“Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.”
What’s obvious to me from this constant violence is that not only are we, as a society, failing women; we’re failing men, too.
I’ve often said that the male ego is like ceramic. It’s amazingly strong and resilient. stronger than steel in certain ways, and able to withstand extreme temperature and environmental changes. Until you drop it or knock it the wrong way and then it fails catastrophically, shattering and sending shards flying like shrapnel. I’m not saying that men are weak or laughable. I’m saying that the nature of manhood, part biological and part social construct, is tragically mismanaged. Somehow, we need to help men manage their way through our changing culture and world, as much as we need to support women. We all need guidance, education, affirmation, some basic self-esteem, and strength of character so every setback doesn’t capsize us. Because this problem is deep in our culture.
There’s something wrong when young women and teenage girls are raped and then are ostracized and ousted from their communities, branded as sluts and whore, and often bullied into suicide while towns rally around the perpetrators.
There’s something very wrong with a culture that produces men who react violently to no.
There’s something wrong when convicted rapists get no jail time after being caught in the act or on video.
I don’t want to be politically partisan but it has to be said. There’s something wrong when a presidential candidate’s mother is called a whore because she, apparently, had more than one sexual partner during her lifespan or for some stupid reason.
When a presidential candidate bases his respect for women on how physically attractive they are and is vocal about it.
Or when a woman fighting for contraception to be covered by health insurance is labeled a slut, considering that boner pills are covered by health insurance, mind you.
When police can’t do anything to protect a woman from an obviously dangerous individual until a violent crime is committed. When a restraining or protective order only serves as postmortem validation.
There’s just … something is very off. When a breast is considered obscene WHILE BREAST FEEDING. It’s absolutely insane.
It’s 2016.
Strangely, there are groups of men gathering, virtually and sometimes in person, to lament the trials and tribulations of being men and the evils of women. Men’s rights. Misogyny clubs. Like I’ve said before, a lot of people are feeling disaffected, one way or another. A lot of people are hurting. But that’s another story for another day.
We have a long way to go with regards to gender equality. Hell, we have a long way to go with regards to basic human respect and dignity. Frankly, I don’t understand how much longer half of the human population is going to put up with this shit (by association, if not personally).
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