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134 Pages·2020·1.751 MB·English
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Violent Manhood J. E. Sumerau ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELD Lanham•Boulder•NewYork• London PublishedbyRowman&Littlefield AnimprintofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 https://rowman.com 6TinworthStreet,LondonSE115AL,UnitedKingdom Copyright©2020byTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems, withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote passagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Sumerau,J.E.,author. Title:Violentmanhood/J.E.Sumerau. Description:Lanham:Rowman&Littlefield,2020.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.| Summary:“Thisbookcriticallyexaminesthewaymenconstructandexplainrelationships betweenviolence,manhood,andinequalityinsociety”—Providedbypublisher. Identifiers:LCCN2020012610(print)|LCCN2020012611(ebook)|ISBN9781538136485(cloth)| ISBN9781538136492(paperback)|ISBN9781538136508(epub) Subjects:LCSH:Men—Identity.|Masculinity—Socialaspects.|Violenceinmen. Classification:LCCHQ1090.S8762020(print)|LCCHQ1090(ebook)|DDC305.31—dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020012610 LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020012611 TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. Contents 1 EncounteringManhood 1 2 DefiningManhood 17 3 ExcusingViolence 33 4 ArmingManhood 47 5 SexualManhood 63 6 ProtectingManhood 77 Conclusion 91 MethodologicalAppendix 103 Bibliography 111 Index 127 AbouttheAuthor 129 v Chapter One Encountering Manhood Although I do not recall ever wanting to be a man, scars on my mind and bodydailyremindmehowmanytimesotherpeoplehavesoughttoconvince me I was supposed to become one.1 When I hear certain sexual and gender slurs on television or elsewhere, for example, my mind races back to the moments such words foretold or times such words arose in the midst of conflict and violence of too many varieties to count. Likewise, when the weatherischillier,Icanfeeltheachesinmylegs,shoulders,andbackwhere somemarkersofpastviolencecanbeseenwhileothershavefaded,atleastin avisiblesense.Similarly,whenIlookinthemirrorevenyearsaftermultiple surgeries, I sometimes still see the facial injuries that once made it hard for meto look atanymirror formore thanafew moments. I may not have ever wanted to be a man, but that never seemed to matter to the people trying to convincemeotherwise. At the same time, my experiences navigating this world as a non-binary trans woman misdiagnosed as male at birth served as an advanced class in gender. I think about the times when my body and mannerisms allow me to beseenbyothers2asapotentialman.Insuchcases,peoplearemorelikelyto listen to what I say, ask for my opinions, defer to me in terms of bodily spacingandverbalarticulation,andlaughatmyjokes,nomatterhowpoorly I execute them. When I am seen by others as a potential man, however, peoplearealsomorelikelytoreactinangerwhenIshowaffectionforothers who may be interpreted as men, when I show any emotion at all, when my voice leaves my mouth in a higher octave, or when I flip my wrist while discussinganespeciallybeautifulsongorlandscape.Thesemomentsrepeat- edlyremindmeoftheexpectationsandnormsforwhatitmeanstobeaman intheeyesofotherpeople. 1 2 Chapter1 Ofcourse,thereareothertimeswhenpeoplerecognizemeasthewoman I am, and in so doing, continuously remind me just how differently most peoplereacttowomenandmenintheUnitedStates.IthinkaboutthewaysI suddenlyreceivelessrespectformypersonalspaceandhavefeweropportu- nitiestobeheard.Ithinkabouthowquicklymyopinionsbecomeamatterof emotion or something to be discarded, argued against without pause, or merely anoverreaction to agivensituation.I think of howmuchmore often peoplewillcommentonmyclothing choices,my bodyandwhattheymight want to do with parts of it I may or may not possess at the time, and my flowinghair,thoughIalmostneverrequestorinvitesuchcommentary.Ialso thinkabouthowI amsuddenlyexpectedto havemanyemotionsconcerning any particular topic, and how at the same time, such emotions are seen as evidence that my own body and mind might not be worthy of respect or consideration.Putsimply,thesemomentsremindmeofthepervasivesexism embedded within U.S. social relations, and bring such patterns to life as I mentally compare my treatment as a woman to the ways people treat me whenIamseenasapotentialman. Infact,theseobservationsbecomeevenmoreclearinthemanycasesand situationswhereIappeartootherssomewherebetweenawomanandaman. Insuchmoments,thecombinationofabeardonmyfaceandaskirtflowing around my knees may lead someone to exclaim—in fear, confusion, or both—and wonder aloud what I am. At other times, the combination of my feminine body language and my broad shoulders may lead someone to slam meintoabathroomwalland/orcallmeanabomination.Therearestillother times, in rural and urban areas alike, where a small child who appears to be dressed as a boy may comment kindly on my skirt only to then hear their parentorguardianinsultme(usuallysomeonewhoappears to beapotential man) or tell me I should be ashamed of myself (usually someone who ap- pears to be a potential woman). In these situations, my inability to be easily categorized or read as appropriately performing either manhood or woman- hoodfacilitatespanic,anger,andpotentialviolencefromotherswhorequire binarygendercategorizationtomakesenseoftheworld. At the heart of each of these examples lies the interactional processes wherebypeoplesociallyconstructthegenderofthemselvesandothersbased onaspectsofappearance,behavior,and/orothersociallyrecognizablecues.3 Since gender itself has no natural properties,4 people spend much of their daily lives—consciously or otherwise—searching for clues that will allow them to determine the gender of others and perform their gender identities. Likewise, since people rarely see other people naked in social life, such effortsrelyheavilyonnotonlydeterminingthegenderofanotherpersonbut also on assuming that determination of another’s gender also tells us some- thing about the composition of said other’s body. It is within the context of such interpretive work that what we call gender is both established and EncounteringManhood 3 assumed throughout the entirety of our interactions with ourselves and oth- ers. In this book, I interrogate the social construction of one aspect of the genderspectrumincontemporaryU.S.society:manhood.Specifically,Iout- linethewaysthatcontemporarynotionsofU.S.manhoodareoftenpredicat- ed on and deeply tied to the performance, or at least threat, of violence. Utilizing interviews with cisgender, heterosexual, middle- or upper-class white men concerning prominent gendered and sexual debates in society today,IteaseoutthewaysviolencefindsvoiceincontemporaryU.S.notions ofwhatitmeanstobeamanaswellaspathwaysforsocialchangerevealed by the possibility of disaggregating violence and manhood in the minds and actions of people who identify as men. To this end, I draw on a lifetime of experiencesliketheonesnotedabove, as well as my ownandothers’ schol- arly work concerning the social construction of men and masculinities over time.5 The central goal of this book is to identify how people who are assigned malearetaughtto beviolent as part of learning howto claim theiridentities as men. Further, I outline the ways that these lessons about violence as an essential elementof manhoodemerge in men’s reactions to violence against women;peopleofcolorregardlessofgender identities; lesbian, gay, bisexu- al, and transgender (LGBT) people; and one another. I also outline men’s opposition to efforts to lessen violence in society. Finally, I illustrate some waysthattransformingsocietalnotionsofwhatitmeanstobeamanmaybe essential to the success of any program, policy, or reform targeted at reduc- ing violence in the United States. In developing these ideas, I encourage readers to shift from viewing violence as “just something men do” to some- thingpeoplewhowishtobeseenasmenembracetoberecognizedbyothers as men. As such, I argue that challenging violence ultimately relies on not onlychangingthethingsmendo,butalsorevisingwhatitmeanstobeaman incontemporaryU.S.society. HOWAPERSONBECOMESAMAN One of the hallmarks of gender scholarship over the past half-century is the recognitionthatmenarenotborn—theyaremade.6Althoughthismaysound strange to anyone socialized by contemporary American notions of inherent or essential manhood, the vast body of research on gender continuously revealsthatwhatitmeanstobeaman—oranyothergenderidentity—arises fromacomplexsetof individual, organizational, and structural patterns that depend on what people do, think, and affirm within and between groups.7 Especially for readers who are less familiar with these empirical observa- 4 Chapter1 tions, it may be helpful to start our discussion with the processes whereby peoplebegintobecomemen. To become a man, first one must be born into a social context where somethingreferredtoandknownasa“man”alreadyexists.8Putsimply,one cannotbecomeamanunlessthereisanidentitycategoryalreadyinexistence that others will recognize and accept as a man. As identity construction scholarshavelongnoted,9thedevelopmentofanytypeofselfrequiressome social understanding of the possibility of such a self. Those seeking to be thin,orbeautiful,orasoccerplayer,forexample,mustfirstlearnwhatanyof these things are from other people before they are able to become them. At the same time, there must be something these things are not (fat or average, ugly or plain, or someone who doesn’t play soccer) to distinguish between what one is (soccer player) and what one is not (not a soccer player). Since social life builds on the identities and meanings of previous generations, someone can only become a given gender identity (man, woman, gender- queer, agender, etc.) if there first exists recognition (within a specific group ormorebroadly)thatthegivengenderidentityexistsandthatthereareways todemonstratethatoneisthatgivengenderidentityandnotadifferentone. Anillustrationofthisprocessof“becoming”anytypeofsocialidentityor member of a category may be useful here. If, for example, a person is born into asocialcontext(a family, acity, a town, a culture, or other location) in whichthereisnothingpeoplealreadyknowaboutcalledaDreadnought,then that person has no way to become a Dreadnought. If, on the other hand, a person is born into a social context in which the members of that group (family members) or residents of that location (people who live in that city) are devoted fans of a messiah-type, supernatural being called Dreadnought, thensaidperson could be encouraged by others to act like Dreadnought and someday develop into a Dreadnought-type being or character. In fact, it would not be surprising if some readers right now are asking, for example, “What is a Dreadnought?” or “Is a Dreadnought a real thing?” while other readers recognize this reference right away and might wish to be like this character type in their own lives and behaviors.10 In either case, as social psychologists have long noted, a person can only become a given type of “thing” or “person” or “object” (i.e., develop an identity as a man or a Dreadnought)ifthereisalreadyaversionofthatthing,person,orobjectthat others recognize and thus may encourage said person to emulate and, over time,become. Emerging studies of relationships between religious and non-religious children, families, and communities provide another example of this type of process at work.11 If, for instance, people are raised in households where familymembersbelieveinahigherpowertheycallagod,thenthese people arelikelytounderstandatsomepointthatthereisagodintheirhome,there arewaystoactgodlyorgod-likeintheirownlives,andtherearepeoplewho EncounteringManhood 5 expectthemtoactinsuchgodlyorgod-likeways.Atthesametime,howev- er, when people are raised in households where family members do not believein or even mention a higher power of any type, they may not under- standthatthereisagodinotherpeople’shomesorthattheycouldorshould actinawaysuggestedbysuchgod.Forpeopletoknowaboutagodandthus become godly, there must first be a type of god created, promoted, and evidencedintheirownsocialworld. In the contemporary United States, this first step in becoming a man is rarely noted in conversations or discussions about the topic of manhood.12 Thisisbecauseassertionsoftheexistenceofanidentity namedmanandthe wayspeopleshouldbehavetobeseenbythemselves andothersas manly or man-likeareconstant,widespread,andnormal.13Whetheronelookstorelig- ion, science, media, politics, or other cultural meaning systems, said viewer will find narratives or scripts for what a man is, how a man should behave, and how others should behave around such manly or man-like beings. Al- though the type of manhood promoted by a given source of authority or influence may vary dramatically, both newly born human beings and those whoare ushering such beings into our world will consistently be taught that there is something called a man and specific ways a given person may be- comeone.14 Within this context, most American media, religion, science, and other powerful systems of meaning align manhood with being assigned male by societyatbirth.15Althoughmanypeopleliveas,areseenbythemselvesand othersas,andidentifyasmenwithouteverhavingbeenassignedmaleatany time or by any social authority, contemporary U.S. society typically defines manhoodinrelationtomalesexassignmentandoftenclaimsthatonewhois assignedmalebysocietywillandmustbecomeamanwithinthesociety.As Candace West and Don Zimmerman16 note, this assigned-sex to performed- gender pathway is a quintessential element in the social construction of the identity man, the articulation that such an identity exists, and that this man identity contains specific behaviors, beliefs, practices, and expectations in a givensociety. Assuch,thesecondstepinbecomingamaninvolvesbeingassignedmale by social authorities, usually at birth and by medical doctors. When people are assigned male by social authorities, such authorities alongside parents and other significant relations will generally expect them to become men, will identify them as boys who will become men in their own interactions andmentalexpectations,andwillworktocreatemanlyorman-likequalities andbehaviorsthatthepersoninquestionmustperformtoavoidpunishment, criticism, or other negative results. As Barrie Thorne17 observed almost 30 yearsago,muchofchildhoodthusinvolvessocialauthoritiestrainingpeople who have been assigned male to learn how to think, behave, and react in waysculturallyexpectedofthosewhowillidentifyasmen.

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.