U.S. Institute of Peace: ‘Masculinity’ to Blame for Violence, Terrorism

Submitted by Mastodon on Sun, 2013-11-03 20:09

Article here. Excerpt:

'Speakers at a symposium hosted by a taxpayer-funded institute this week said some aspects of masculinity contribute to mass violence and criticized the United States for spending more on counterterrorism operations than sexual assault prevention efforts.

The “Men, Peace, and Security Symposium: Agents of Change,” held at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on Monday and Tuesday, “aim[ed] to better understand how the ascribed norms of men and masculine identities contribute to, and may even help mitigate, violent conflict and post-conflict,” according to USIP’s website
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Experts say the views of feminists like Kilmartin have begun to creep into federal institutions. Christina Hoff Sommers, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former philosophy professor, wrote in an op-ed last year for the Washington Post that a study released at the time by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “suggest[ed] that rates of sexual violence in the United States are comparable to those in the war-stricken Congo.”

Sommers said the CDC study, which estimated that 1.3 million women were raped and an additional 12.6 million women and men were victims of sexual violence in the U.S. in 2010, relied on telephone surveys with low response rates and ambiguous questions for the interviewees. By comparison, the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey reported 188,380 rapes and sexual assaults on females and males in 2010.
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Other experts contacted by the Washington Free Beacon expressed alarm at Kilmartin’s juxtaposition of sexual violence with terrorist acts at an event sponsored by taxpayer-supported groups.

“His absurd comparison of this problem to terrorist violence against victims like the ones ruthlessly killed on 9/11 should not be taken seriously,” said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness and a former member of the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, in an email.
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While recent anonymous surveys have purportedly shown a rise in sexual assault incidents in the military, experts say a more detailed analysis indicates that rates have actually declined over time.

Not everyone at the conference agreed with the assessments of Kilmartin and other speakers.

Sunil Desai, a retired Marine who served for more than 20 years, said in an interview that there are fundamental flaws with the argument that masculinity is often behind violence, which he called “an easy target to blame.” Desai is the president and treasurer of the Bindi Project, a group that advocates for the health of girls and women in India.

“[Sexual assault perpetrators] represent the minority of the total population,” he told the Free Beacon. “If you assume that masculinity is the problem, that doesn’t explain the vast majority of the remainder of the male population that’s masculine, that isn’t doing this.”
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“If you tell someone that violence and the ability to conduct violence is inherently bad, and then send them off to do it, and expect them to come back and reintegrate and be mentally stable?” he said. “It’s not possible.”'

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Comments

The computing world has a phrase, parallel processing, describing some computers' ability to use two CPUs [Central Processing Units-- the "main brain" (or brains, if more than one) of a computer]. If a program can be run with more than one CPU and a computer has it, it may allow the program to run faster than if it has only one CPU.

I don't know if modern psychiatry has a term for it, and I think existing labels/diagnoses are too overboard, but when I read articles like this, I can't help but think that both individuals and perhaps our society collectively may be expressing what I call "Parallel Processing Syndrome". The analogy is this: each CPU represents a given set of values or evaluative criteria for some policy, idea, or phenomenon. The policy, idea, or phenomenon is the program. What some people as individuals seem to be doing when it comes to certain ideas is they are trying to "run", like a program, said idea or ideas through more than one "CPU", or evaluative criteria, at the same time, and somehow come to a consistent conclusion from both that represents a final value or action protocol.

This is different from Nymphotropism I think in that Nymphotropism is a form of cognitive dissonance-based prioritization of women's interests over men's based on a long tradition in the human race established principally to maintain a high reproductive rate as a means of maximizing the race's (and more specifically, a tribe/clan's) chances of survival and thriving. As we now know, such a sexist system is no longer needed and really hasn't been for a very long time. Nymphotropism is consistently predictable in its results, whereas the results of "parallel processing" are not.

In the case of this particular item, I think it's pretty clear based on the way the ideas expressed in it jump around that this phenomenon is in action. The article ends in a way telling of the fundamental priority conflict at work: If you want to train men (and women) to be violent killers-for-hire (albeit in hired service ostensibly to their country) on the one hand but then expect them to be readily "de-commissioned" like outdated battleships, you'll be sorely disappointed. But worse still, try training them to be violent killers, indifferent to the lives they're taking, *and* behave like choir-boys (and -girls) when not sicced on a foe-- well, really, are you expecting success? Hardened, ruthless, unempathic killers today, politically-correct, sensitive, compassionate do-gooders the next. Make up yer damn mind.

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Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2013-11-03 23:04

thanks Matt...

Are you one of the moderators?

If so, can I change my login from Bronxman to Tom... or Thomas?

I no longer want to hide my feelings.

t

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Submitted by bronxman on Mon, 2013-11-04 14:17

Hi Tom,

Yes, I'm a MANN mod. Just send a note with your request to newaccounts@mensactivism.org. In answer to your question, I can create another acct. for you but can't change an existing user ID. This is for security and reputation-protection reasons. Also, you need to use a different email address than the one you first were registered under (don't post any email addresses here; we'll handle this all by email). Finally, be aware 'Tom' and 'Thomas' are both taken. But I'm sure we can find a suitable new one for you anyway.

Matt

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Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2013-11-04 16:43