Making the Connections: Harmful Masculine Norms and Conflict and War

Ce blog fait partie de la série « Établir des liens ». Chaque blog se concentre sur une forme particulière de violence.

Cette année, Equimundo et Oak Foundation ont lancé Normes masculines et violence : établir des liens, un nouveau rapport examinant les liens entre les normes masculines néfastes et huit formes de comportement violent.

Bien que le fait d'être un homme n'ait rien d'inhérent à la violence, la manière dont nous socialisons les garçons dans leur identité d'homme et ce que nous attendons d'eux – c'est-à-dire les normes masculines de la société – sont indéniablement liés à la violence. En effet, les garçons et les hommes sont souvent élevés, socialisés et encouragés à recourir à la violence sous une forme ou une autre ; dans l'ensemble, les hommes et les garçons sont plus susceptibles de commettre la plupart des formes de violence et de mourir par homicide ou suicide. Cependant, les recherches confirment que cette violence est évitable, que l'égalité des sexes est réalisable et que les normes et idées non violentes sur la virilité sont répandues et puissantes.

This eighth and final blog in the Établir les connexions series focuses on conflict and war. It breaks down the facts on this issue, its linkages to other forms of violence, and recommendations for action.

Conflict and War

Les faits

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 decidedly male. Even among men who voluntarily enlist in the military or join a militia or rebel group, a certain amount of coercion based in hegemonic masculinity is at play.

The Link

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

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

Military/militarized culture is rooted in a gendered hierarchy in which the masculine is valorized at the expense of 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 codependent 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. Imperialism, colonization, and domination of other cultures 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.

Repressing empathy/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 specifically because of its usefulness in political domination.

Les intersections

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 myriad ways that militaries are overly 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 because of social vulnerability.

De la théorie à la pratique  

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 alternative forms of masculinity that value emotional expression, community building, and humanizing “the other.”
• Engage men and boys – and women and girls – in discussions about traditional gender norms, violence, and the military as a gendered space.

Lire le reste de la Établir les connexionsblog series to learn more about intimate partner violence; physical violence against children; child sexual abuse and exploitation; bullying; homicide and violent crime; non-partner sexual violence; and suicide.