Media, Masculinity, and Violence

I was deeply moved by the movies, Tough Guise and The Killing Screens; so much so that I took over two pages of notes while watching them. All of what is presented is relevant on a variety of levels and brings to our collective consciousness some profound truths about the effects media is having on men and women in our society, particularly our young, impressionable adolescents. The media is negatively defining what masculinity is and how "real" men must act in order to be validated.

Some key points that stood out to me were:
- If you want to understand something in society, look at its representation in the media.
- Guns in movies, in addition to being phallic symbols, have gotten bigger over the last four decades, as have the bicept size of action figures from 1970 to today.
- Outsiders who don't fit in i.e. Columbine, use guns as the great equalizer. Disproportionately, the outsiders are male.
- Especially interesting is the medias portrayal of poor urban black men and men of color overall. They are almost always defined as tough guys.
-This portrayal of tough guys has found it's way into the mainstream society, comprised of white middle class males.
- Part of the normal training and social conditioning of men is the notion that manhood is inextricably linked to power and violence, particularly sexual violence perpetrated against women.
- The Marlboro Man ethos teaches that interdependence and interconnectedness are not manly qualities; crying is for women; If you fail, it's your own fault.
- The porn industry overwhelmingly controlled by and geared towards pleasing men via the overt sexual objectification of women.
-Manhood means a flagrant disregard for personal health and wellness i.e. binge drinking.

The conclusion that the narrator of this piece came to is one that I agree with wholeheartedly: We need to change the definitions of manhood as a key step in reducing violence in our society.