Making the Connections: Harmful Masculine Norms and Conflict and War

Los 16 Días de activismo contra la violencia de género es una campaña internacional utilizada por activistas de todo el mundo (del 25 de noviembre al 10 de diciembre) como estrategia organizativa para pedir la eliminación de todas las formas de violencia de género. 

Este año, compartiremos nuestra investigación sobre los vínculos entre las normas masculinas dañinas y ocho formas diferentes de comportamiento violento, así como conocimientos y recomendaciones para eliminar todas las formas de violencia.

Si bien no hay nada inherente al hecho de ser hombre que impulse la violencia, la forma en que socializamos a los niños en sus identidades como hombres y lo que esperamos de ellos (es decir, las normas masculinas de la sociedad) están innegablemente vinculados con la violencia.

De hecho, a menudo se cría, socializa y anima a los niños y a los hombres a usar la violencia de alguna forma; en general, los hombres y los niños tienen una probabilidad desproporcionada de perpetrar la mayoría de las formas de violencia y de morir por homicidio y suicidio. Sin embargo, la investigación afirma que esta violencia es prevenible, la igualdad de género es alcanzable y las normas e ideas no violentas sobre la masculinidad son prevalentes y poderosas. 

Informe de la Fundación Equimundo y Oak Normas masculinas y violencia: estableciendo conexiones, examines the links between harmful masculine norms and eight forms of violent behavior. This eighth and final blog in the Estableciendo las conexiones16 días de activismo series focuses on conflict and war. It breaks down the facts on conflict and war, explores their linkages to other forms of violence, and provides recommendations for action.

Conflict and War

Los hechos

Men are disproportionately likely to die as a direct result of armed conflict compared with women. These violent deaths are not the only – or even a major proportion of – deaths associated with active conflict, however, and some data suggest that the majority of overall deaths associated with active conflict – when indirect consequences are considered – are women and children.

Involvement in militaries or militias is also undeniably male. Even among men who voluntarily enlist in the military or join a militia or rebel group, a certain amount of coercion rooted in potential access to dominant, powerful, and privileged masculinity is at play.

Los enlaces

Some scholars suggest that young men’s social exclusion, rather than their inherent nature or their number, may lead them to violent behavior.

Violence, conflict, and war are not related only to men or masculinities. Further, these roles must not be mistaken as static. On the contrary, evidence points to women taking on men’s roles during war, including engaging in combat.

Military/militarized culture is rooted in a gendered hierarchy in which the masculine is valued over the feminine. Traditional militarization relies upon aggression and adventurousness being tied up in performances of hegemonic masculinity, equating “being a man” with conquest, defense, and the willingness to kill. In this way, militarization and the social construction of violent masculinities are reinforcing and interdependent processes.

Objectification, dehumanization (including feminization of enemy combatants), and “othering” are central to creating male soldiers willing to kill, and masculine norms have proven to be useful vehicles for achieving this. Colonization and domination of other cultures, and imperialism are seen as justified and even necessary by cultures that create hierarchical identities in which the hegemonic man is on top, positioning non-hegemonic male identities as inferior and in need of being controlled.

Repression of empathy or social connections is also a shared objective of militarization and hegemonic masculinity. Research also shows that conflict-related rape is a result of a specific production of masculinity that is fostered precisely because of its usefulness in political domination. 

Las intersecciones 

Many factors contribute to men’s engagement in violent conflict, such as structural, contextual, individual, and psychosocial factors. These include economic frustration (drawing upon the social expectation that men be financial providers), early exposure to violence, traumatic indoctrination, and the numerous ways that militaries are glorified in a given setting. 

Lack of employment and social mobility can result in young men joining armed conflicts as a means of obtaining wealth, as rebellion against ruling classes, or as a result of social vulnerability.

De la teoría a la práctica 

It is still rare for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations to incorporate awareness of gender-related issues, let alone gender-transformative approaches. Initiatives aiming to prevent conflict and war should focus on the following transformations of harmful masculine norms:

• Provide male youth with opportunities for nonviolent livelihoods and pathways to social recognition.
• Discuss, model, and encourage nonviolent forms of masculinity that value emotional expression, community building, and humanizing “the other.”
• Engage men and boys – and women and girls and individuals of all gender identities – in discussions about traditional gender norms, violence, and the military as a gendered space.

Lea el resto del Estableciendo las conexionesSerie de blogs de 16 días de activismo para aprender más sobre violencia de pareja; violencia física contra los niños; abuso y explotación sexual infantil; bullying; homicidios y delitos violentos; violencia sexual fuera de la pareja; y suicide.