Week Thirteen: Response 13.2
Katz’s “Facing Facts” chapter examines how some men
rely on denial or fear self-examination when it comes to confronting rape
culture. How is Hustler’s
magazine/website Barely Legal used as an example of
the way this works?
When the topic of gender violence is brought up as a man’s problem, many men immediately put up a defensive shield. Horrible crimes that men have done to women are shocking and disturbing to hear about. When all men in society are put under the microscope, it is easy for nonviolent men to feel blamed for simply being a man. Katz reminds us that men shouldn’t feel guilty simply for being born male. Sexism and sexual oppression, especially by men against women, have existed among us for thousands of years.
ReplyDeleteFear of self-examination is another big reason for men to avoid looking too deeply into rape culture. This is especially true for older men. The longer men have lived, the more opportunities they have been given to contribute to rape culture. This leads to more actions they have to think back on and potentially take ownership of. Even normalized male behaviors such as viewing porn and visiting strip clubs have detrimental effects on women and the way men think of women. It can be embarrassing and scary to learn that you or other men in your life have participated in this ugly culture of violence towards women, even if it may not have been intended. It is not easy to be criticized for your own behavior in such a unsettling context. It is much easier to look the other way and cope through denial.
Barely Legal is a porn magazine created by Hustler founder Larry Flynt. The magazine features women who are legally of age but can easily pass as minors. A big part of the magazine was a cartoon strip of the (not-so-fictional) child abuser Chester the Molester. The cartoons actually featured the real life sexual abuse that the artist did to his daughter. While consumers may or may not have been acting out these scenes themselves, they supported the founder, magazine, and company who continue to provide opportunities for male arousal and pleasure by the sexualization and victimization of young girls. Young girls’ bodies become sexualized commodities that men can buy.
So, yes, there may be a few psychopath men who commit these heinous crimes, but it is a bigger problem than that. Even though nonviolent men might feel partly guilty for contributing to a culture of rape and violence, they can also feel a sense of responsibility to help alleviate the situation. While violence against women must be examined in a larger social context, responsibility must be energized among individual men. It is a dismissal of denial and a spreading of self-reflection, awareness, and openness to education by individual men that can start to redefine masculinity, sex, and women through the eyes of men.
Claire P.
Hustler’s Barely Legal is an example of the slippery slope of rape culture. Of course the average man will say that pedophilia is wrong and immoral and all sorts of negative words. Yet those same average men will also consume pornography, like Barely Legal, that purposefully shows (technically) legal women as childlike. Some quick glances at the magazine covers from Barely Legal include taglines like, “horny high schoolers,” “treat me like your sex doll,” reader requests: braces,” and a lot of contests to win some of the girl’s underwear. Men don’t want to admit they’re compliant in rape culture or that a link can be drawn with the mass appeal of teen porn and pedophilia. Yes magazines like Barely Legal are technically legal but that doesn’t mean it’s not morally questionable to consume teen pornography without question or introspection. It’s easy to think that rapists and abusers are psychopaths who are different than average respectable men. But most sexual assaults occur between a woman who knows the perpetrator. A study was mentioned that 1 in 12 college men committed the legal definition of rape, yet 88% of those men didn’t think their actions constituted as rape. These men don’t think their actions are wrong because it’s become so normalized in our culture. I’ve heard lots of stories about men whose girlfriends “went crazy” and lots of stories from crazy ex-girlfriends about how they endured sexism, gaslighting, and ghosting from their boyfriends. It’s so much easier to blame the victim than realize that you and the people you love are part of the problem. If you do recognize your compliance and you feel guilt, okay great now do something about it. Guilt is not a productive emotion. Denial is a way to escape the ugly realities of the truth. But in order to make any sort of change you must accept the truth of the problem, and then actively work to dismantle it.
ReplyDeleteRachael M