Speaker addresses male violence and men’s development in GVSU presentation

The Women’s Center at GVSU hosted a presentation by Jason Laker, author and presenter on the issue of masculine development and men’s need to be involved in ending violence against women.

About 100 students and some faculty/staff spent an hour listening to a presentation that is part of a larger effort on campus to reduce violence against women on campus and engage more men to be part of that work.

Jason began his presentation with a listing of some talking points about where he is operating from as a researcher and author. He talked about the need for accountability of men, the need for a restorative justice approach to men who commit violence against women and the fact that we have a media system in this society that normalizes unhealthy attitudes and behaviors towards women.

Laker also stressed that the importance of doing this work of confronting and holding men accountable for violence against women is directly tied to the need to radically alter how men are socialized. He presented his information and analysis particularly within the university context.

Looking at data, Laker then provided some context for male behavior on campuses across the country. Men are overwhelmingly involved in negative incidents on campus, but are vastly under-represented in policy planning that deals with multiculturalism, diversity and campus safety.

Laker said that part of the problem is that the majority of men are ignored and not approached around the need to create a healthy climate on campus. He said that most of us are co-conspirators in creating a climate of mediocrity, in that we dismiss men in general as either uninterested or unwilling to change.

For Laker, the key point of doing the work of end violence against women on campuses is to explore and develop healthy male identity. Laker discussed how from the time children are in the womb the emphasis is always people wanting to know the gender of the baby, “so what is it?” This is an indication of how we obsess over the biological distinctions of children as opposed to just embracing them as human.

Laker then presented the notion that there is a hegemonic identity for men in this culture. What he meant by that is that there is a dominant form of male identity that is presented in our society, through the media and major institutions. Men, according to Laker, are constantly being questioned by men about their identity, particularly if they do not reflect the hegemonic view, which is the hyper-masculine, un-emotional and prone to violence/dominance.

This hegemonic view of masculinity is supporter by recent research of pro-feminist men like Michael Kimmel, in his book Guyland and affirmed in feminist theorist writers such as bell hooks.

Laker also said that much of men’s negative behavior is related to this notion of shaming. When men are constantly policed by men about their masculine identity it increases the likelihood that this kind of shaming will increase the levels of violence that men participate in.  This critique of shaming is a major part of the analysis in the new documentary The Bro-Code.

Lack of emotion, control, power and competition are the principles that currently nurture male identity, which underscores the need to radically alter the ways in which men are socialized.

This was the message that Jason Laker brought to students, a message that the university hopes to use as a mechanism to create a new campus climate where men become co-participants in reducing violence against women and hold each other accountable.

However, there was one thing that Laker did not address, which to this writer seemed like a big opportunity missed. Penn State University is currently faced with the fact that some administration and football coaches knew that sexual assault occurred over a 15-year period and yet they did not report these assaults or take other actions to hold the perpetrators accountable.

This story would have provided an excellent opportunity to address how institutionalized male privilege can play out and why students, faculty and staff on college campuses cannot assume that just because a policy is in place that justice will prevail.