Media Coverage Misses the Gender Issues at the Heart of Mass Shootings

[niyad]

Media Coverage Misses the Gender Issues at the Heart of Mass Shootings
11/21/2022 by Jackson Katz
Guns are woven deeply into cultural narratives about American masculinity.



A man views rifles during the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention on May 28, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

Amidst outpourings of heartache, grief and outrage about the latest gun massacre, why are so few voices in mainstream American media talking about the gender issues at the heart of these incidents? As the U.S. experiences yet another mass murder, what is so hard about saying—out loud—that the overwhelming majority of these killings are done by boys and young men, and then going a little deeper and asking why? Since the spring of 1998, media coverage of these shootings—with just a few exceptions—has followed an embarrassingly predictable and superficial script that imposes gender neutrality on a highly gendered phenomenon. It’s remarkable how many gender-neutral terms commentators come up with to describe the perpetrators of these heinous crimes: “shooter,” “18-year-old,” “loner” “killer,” “terrorist,” “student,” “teenager,” “young person,” “armed individual.”

People think it’s so obvious the shooters are young men that there’s literally no point in saying so. In that sense, ‘gunman’ is internally redundant; everyone knows that ‘man’ follows ‘gun.’ The one gendered term people do often use is “gunman,” a word whose very constituent parts—gun/man—offer a clue as to why gender-neutral terms are so popular on this topic. People think it’s so obvious the shooters are young men that there’s literally no point in saying so. In that sense, “gunman” is internally redundant; everyone knows that “man” follows “gun.” One way to think about the near-invisibility of gender in this debate is to consider the word “gunwoman.” The awkward but revealing dictionary definition of this uncommon word is “a female gunman.” The need for such a word barely exists—because in 98 percent of mass shootings, the murderer is a man.


Brad Fowler of San Antonio, Texas, lights up candles at a memorial dedicated to the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on June 3, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed on May 24 after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire inside the school. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

. . . . . .

The two academics have developed a remarkable data base of school shootings dating back to 1966. They found that school shooters typically have four things in common:

They suffered early childhood trauma.
They were angry or despondent over a recent event, sometimes resulting in suicidality.
They studied other shootings online.
They possessed the means to carry out the attack.

But like most analysts, the authors didn’t highlight or examine gender as something almost all the shooters have in common. They did mention it in a subsequent paragraph, in which they suggested—helpfully—that schools can adopt curricula focused on “teaching positive coping skills, resilience, and social-emotional learning, especially to young boys.” Then they buried the most critical data point at the end of the paragraph, in parentheses—***********“(According to our data, 98 percent of mass shooters are men)”—and said nothing further about it. *********

. . . . .



But as long as men, young and old, have easy access to high-capacity killing machines at the same time their society furnishes them with endless heroic masculine narratives about redemptive violence, the next tragedy is always going to be just around the corner.

https://msmagazine.com/2022/11/21/gun-violence-men-mass-shooting/

[RANDYWILDMAN]

1. Most of the mass shooting are committed by fragile white MEN

men with small brains and even smaller capacity for empathy.


Another reason we need more females in government and decision making.

imho

[niyad]

5. YES!!!

[Zeitghost]

9. Thats simply not true

"A total of 104 mass public shootings since Columbine through summer 2021 were included in our analyses. Of these, 49% were committed by NH White perpetrators,"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091743522002250

[bronxiteforever]

2. Kick & recommend. Great article with a real point to it.

This sentence really got to me:

“What difference would it make if the discourse on mass killings routinely included discussion about the socialization of boys in a violent culture, along with developments over the past generation in our understanding of the emotional and relational lives of boys and young men? “

[niyad]

6. Got to me as well.

[SheltieLover]

3. Addressing toxic masculinity would injure their overblown egos.

Take away rolling coal trucks & guns, thdn what's left?

[niyad]

7. Shocking, is it not??

[SheltieLover]

10. Shock therapy might do such people some good!

[niyad]

11. You nearly owed me a keyboard!

[SheltieLover]

12. Well...

Seriously, after decades of pounding American exceptionalism & white male privilege, that might shock them into reality.

[niyad]

13. One lives in hope!!

[SheltieLover]

14. It's transgenerational.

[Orrex]

4. I'd love to see Reichwing outrage at the suggestion that we teach coping skills

Such basic techniques of healthy human interaction are the last thing the Right wants to happen.

[niyad]

8. Goddess forfend!!

[Sympthsical]

15. There isn't a lot of focus on socialization in boys

I've been taking a Women's Health and Education course this semester, and we've discussed socialization skills for women at great length. One chapter we spent a lot of time on is assertiveness. All kinds of discussion about autonomy, boundaries, how to say no, how to express what you want, how to deal with difficult people.

An entire unit was devoted to socialization and how women can be empowered in our society to assert themselves and realize their potential. Another unit was spent on mental health, how to recognize problems, how and where to seek help, etc.

I've never seen similar things for men and boys. I'm not saying they don't exist, but I never saw anything close to that for males when I made my first sojourn through school, and nothing has crossed my path now that reaches that level of focus that I've found in women's health.

It feels very, "Eh, they'll figure it out." Given what's going on in our society, a lot of young men are not figuring it out. And there are a lot of theories about why that is. When I was growing up (late 90s) we had sex-segregated health classes in high school. I would like to see something along those lines now that is focused on socialization. How to deal with frustration, anger, and aggression. To de-stigmatize seeking help or mental health treatment. To provide tools for healthier emotional outlets.

This stuff keeps happening and we keep kind of not doing anything about it. People just go, "Oh ho ho! Toxic masculinity!" which doesn't accomplish anything and is kind of a garbage term, because all it does is stigmatize males (Yes, it does. Don't @ me about that. It's a dumb debate). If people want culture and society to change, they have to address solutions for it rather than simply raising awareness there is a problem.

Awareness has been raised for ages. Where are all the solutions? As the article in the OP notes, the solutions got totally buried in the study.

Well, that has to change.

[betsuni]

16. K&R

[niyad]

17. Thank you.