The Stigmas of Masculinity
The Stigmas of Masculinity
The Stigmas of Masculinity
Alexa Moreno
Instructor McGovern
PSY 231
11 May 2017
infamous ideologies have been reinforced throughout our society, whether it be sexism, racism,
ableism, etc. Masculinity is not an inherently negative thing, it is rather the conventional traits in
which are associated with men. So, where is the aspect of sexual violence in relationship to
stigmas of masculinity? What traits that were once simply associated with being a man, have
The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that there is an average
of 321,500 victims of sexual assault, who are 12 or older, each year in the United States. One out
of every six American women has experienced a partial or complete rape, and one out of ten rape
victims are male. The perpetrators themselves are often known by victims (70%), half of
perpetrators are 30 years of age or older, and 57% are White. Even with these averaged out
statistics, sexual offenders are not as easy to profile as some would hope. They are as the Center
CSOM always mentions on their website that sex offenders often have cognitive
distortions or pro-offending attitudes that not only justifies their actions, but normalizes it despite
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the offender being aware that they are committing a crime and causing harm to someone. For
example, rape culture in American is often centered around victim blaming and it is almost the
automatic response to find fault in the attacked and what they did to provoke the attacker. With
that framework, a sexual offender can easily dismiss their crime because they deemed that the
woman or man who made eye contact with them from across the room must have wanted it from
distortion that plays a factor in the sexually violent acts committed by men. This depiction of
who is not affected by his emotions, is desirable to women, successful, confident, unbothered,
the “cool guy.” We see this image constantly bombarded in popular culture and sets an
unattainable persona for men. While this can lead to anxiety, depression, and other cognitive
disorders that have often been diagnosed in sexual offenders; it is when the image becomes
Jeremy Posodas of Austin College has developed two and half weeks of his 14 week long
religious and gender studies course of sex and sexuality on sexual violence prevention. In this
two week span, Posodas presents the phenomenon of toxic masculinity and its effects on sexual
violence in Western culture. Posodas writes in his periodical Teaching the Cause of Rape
Culture: Toxic Masculinity that, “Students need to understand that while rape culture is the
mechanism that channels toxic masculinity into specific, socially legitimized practices of sexual
violence, if we want to eradicate sexual violence, we must transform the apparatuses by which
boys are subjectified into toxically masculine men.” Posodas is suggesting that the deep rooted
issue is the bombardment of the masculine male persona in our society. This persona is not only
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being subjected to men in our society, but also women who then participate in rape culture by
School, discuss the theory of gender role strain. They define it as followed, “The gender role
strain theory emphasizes how men “internalize cultural belief systems about masculinity and
gender roles” and embodies the idea that the subcultures to which sexual assault perpetrators
primarily belong have a significant influence over their propensity to commit sexual violence.”
In their study, Harway and Steel analyze three subcultures of masculinity that perpetrate this
gender role strain: military, law enforcement, and professional sports. They question, “whether
the socialization within certain subcultures including its peers, its role models, and its portrayal
by the media reinforces masculinity by endorsing events that exhibit increased aggression,
These three subcultures are the epitome of extreme circumstances of the masculine male.
The military and law enforcement are meant to be the protectors and garner respect; however,
with that respect comes an abuse of power. Whether it is the hierarchy of military command, or a
badge, the idea to fight back against or even press charges against a sexual offender who falls
into either or of these subcultures, is too often dismissed. On the offender themselves, they
excuse their behavior (using their position of power to fuel their pro-offending attitude),
proposing that they deserve to commit these acts against women. This behavior is also excused
and constantly fueled by the consistent access to vulnerable or awestruck women in the military
the court to other athletes. With the normalcy of aggressive behavior, demeanor, and means of
resolving conflicts, Harway and Steel raise the question of “whether the aggressiveness learned
in sport translates to athletes’ behavior in interpersonal relationships.” While Harway and Steel’s
analysis of literature of athletes and sexual violence is mostly that of college students (who make
up only about 3% of a college campus population, they are responsible for roughly 19% of the
reported sexual assaults), one needs to analyze the spectacle that is professional sports.
Professional sport games garner thousands of Americans’ eyes. Add on to that the hand
in hand relationships of alcohol’s involvement in sports, from bars dedicated to sport teams to
advertisement upon advertisement during televised events, to the players themselves being
facilitator to sexual violence. The National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime reports that
40% percent of incarcerated prisoners convicted of a violent crime were under the influence.
Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton, and McAuslin report that of the 25% of women who have
experienced sexual assault, about 50% of those cases involved consumption of alcohol of the
The argument is then made that it is not athletes themselves that are likely to become
sexual offenders, but rather, that with an accumulation of a forced identity of masculinity that
comes with being an athlete trying to prove your better than others, and its coalition with
environments that revolve around alcohol consumption, there is often misplaced aggression that
is brought onto a victim. I believe that the issue comes when an athlete, or any person for that
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matter, is incapable of separating aggression and violence from one realm to the actuality of
human relationships.
The cause of sexual violence is never going to be concrete due to the unpredictability of
human beings and their actions. Nor will the causes of sexual violence ever be justified for a
perpetrator. However, to address and (to a degree) prevent further molding of sexually violent
individuals; we must review the manner in which we socialize problematic behaviors into being
the norm. We have to disband the idea of this hyper-masculine male who displays predictive
behavior similar to that of which we note in sexual offenders, because normalizing it has
continued the prevalence in which it appears in the individuals who commit these acts. From a
badge, to a famous name, we cannot continue to excuse toxic masculinity to reinforce aggression
References
Abbey, A., Zawacki, T., Buck, P., Clinton, M., & McAuslan, P. (2000). Alcohol and Sexual
https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-1/43-51.htm
Alcohol and Crime | NPAMC. (2017). Alcoholandcrime.org. Retrieved 13 May 2017, from
http://www.alcoholandcrime.org/issues/alcohol-and-crime/
The Etiology of Sexual Offending Behavior and Sex Offender Typology: An Overview. (2017).
Harway, M., & Steel, J. (2015). Studying masculinity and sexual assault across organizational
374-378. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039694
Posodas, J. (2017). Teaching the Cause of Rape Culture: Toxic Masculinity. Journal Of Feminist
Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics | RAINN. (2017). Rainn.org. Retrieved 13 May 2017, from
https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence