Sunday, July 16, 2017

When men dream of raping and violating women

Is there truth to what Philippine president Rodrigo Roa Duterte just recently told Filipinos that "men have balls if they rape Miss Universe candidates"? What do researches and studies show?

One research "Understanding violence against women" tries to shed light on the causes of this continuing violence of men against women. Based on this book, there are two lines of inquiry: examination of the behavior of offenders and consideration of heightened vulnerability of women to violence. In looking at behavior of offenders, researchers found these factors as evident:

"biologic factors such as androgenic hormonal influences; evolutionary theories; intrapsychic explanations focused on mental disorder or personality traits and profiles; social learning models that highlight the socialization experiences that shape individual men to be violent; social information processing theory concerning the cognitive processes that offenders engage in before, during, and after violence; sociocultural analyses aimed at understanding the structural features of society at the level of the dyad, family, peer group, school, religion, media, and state that encourage male violence and maintain women as a vulnerable class of potential victims; and feminist explanations stressing the gendered nature of violence against women and its roots in patriarchal social systems. "("3 Causes and Consequences of Violence Against Women." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Violence Against Women. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5127: 50)

Furthermore:

"Studies of male batterers have found that some batterers confine their violent behavior to their intimates but others are violent in general (Fagan et al., 1983; Cadsky and Crawford, 1988; Shields et al., 1988; Saunders, 1992; Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart, 1994). The research suggests that, at least in some cases, there may be differences in the factors that cause violence against women and those that cause other violent behavior. ("3 Causes and Consequences of Violence Against Women." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Violence Against Women. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5127)

We learned from these studies that: men with mental disorders or personality traits usually undertake violence against women and some of these batterers "confine their violent behavior to their intimates" but "others are violent in general."

Again, let's ask ourselves---what led men such as Mr. Duterte to think that violence against women is "masculine" and "proof of masculinity"? A study about man box supports Mr. Duterte's thinking. The socialization of man in society immerses him in an environment where certain beliefs and values are considered "masculine" and therefore, expected to be acted out by men in their societies.


and what better way for a man to express his "masculinity" than wish violence for women. The most pervasive form of violence against women is rape (Tough Guise: Men, Violence and the Crisis in Masculinity, 1999)



But what kind of man do you think, again based on research, are those who always and even publicly wishes rape and mentions rape and violence against women?

Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, in his study of human destructive behavior exhibited by homophobes and men against gays, lesbians and even women, says that these men should undertake a self-examination because there is a very strong evidence that the reason why they exhibit strong reactions against the other sex smacks of homosexuality.  Men who wish harm against homosexuals or gays are, according to Ryan, probably also gay.

"This study shows that if you are feeling that kind of visceral reaction to an out-group, ask yourself, 'Why?"Those intense emotions should serve as a call to self-reflection."

Let us hear Ryan again:

"Sometimes people are threatened by gays and lesbians because they are fearing their own impulses, in a sense they 'doth protest too much,'" Ryan told LiveScience. "In addition, it appears that sometimes those who would oppress others have been oppressed themselves, and we can have some compassion for them too, they may be unaccepting of others because they cannot be accepting of themselves."

Writing for the Guardian, Julie Bindin interviewed Andrea Dworkin, a rape victim about what she thinks rape is. Dworkin is quoted as saying this:

"Rape is a sadistic act of punishment. We are raped by men who hate us, not by those who desire us so much they have no self- control. They do it to control us and then they tell us we are mad for imagining it happened because we are not good enough for them to violate, abuse and colonise. The truth about rape and sexual assault is ugly."

So rape is a kind of punishment and those who do that are men "who hate us (us here means women)."

Summarising what we know so far:

1. Men thru their socialization process, are made to believe certain values which are considered "masculine" or male. These kinds of behavior establishes masculinity or are considered proofs of masculinity. One form of behavior is violent behavior.

2. One of these behaviors is violence. Rape is one form of violence by a human against his fellow human.

3. A study shows that those who hate other sexes, are actually people harboring same-sex feelings themselves but unable to express these in public. Meaning, a man who hates a gay, is probably gay himself.

4. Closet gays are most feared because they can't express themselves fully, and research shows, most closet gays hate women because they hate themselves. Psychologists say this is a mental disorder or a personality disorder.

5. A person with such disorders wishes violence upon another. Rapists are one. They rape women because they want to punish them. The cause of their behavior--hate. Rape is a form of punishment. And when one wishes rape upon a woman, that means that that person wishes to punish that woman.

Finally, what do we now say about Mr. Duterte again using the podium only reserved to Philippine presidents (whenever Mr. Duterte now speaks, he speaks on behalf of the Philippine Republic and on behalf of the Filipino people).

1. Mr. Duterte probably wishes to punish women with rape.
2. Some of those who hate women are closet gays.
2. Rape is a sexual form of hate.
3. Mr. Duterte is possibly a closet gay.

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