Tough Guise: society's expectations of male dominance

07.27.2010

Thanks to Men Stopping Violence, our local heroes in anti-violence work with men, I came across this great video with Jackson Katz.



In this short clip he looks at how society’s expectations for guys set them up and encourage violence against women. In fact, he argues that guys are trapped by these societal norms too and can leave them feeling like they aren’t tough enough, strong enough, or in control.

But we all know from reading these blogs, that in a healthy relationship no one partner has control. That both people have equal say and are important in the relationship.

Teens, what are your thoughts on “the man box” that media and society have put guys in?

--Laura B.

Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" music video

12.30.2009

On a recent YouTube adventure, one music video lead me to another. Eventually all roads lead to Lady Gaga... as most radio stations do too. While I wasn't a fan of the song "Paparazzi" from the radio, the video really pushed me over the edge.

The video begins with Lady Gaga being thrown from a balcony by her boyfriend after she busted a bottle over his head. Moments before, he has her pinned on the ledge of the balcony, kissing her and saying, "do you trust me?" She responds, "of course." He progressively gets more forceful and it's clearly making her uncomfortable. She says "stop" several times but he persists, so eventually she smashes a bottle on his head. The rest is history...

Headlines then read "Lady Gaga hits rock bottom" and "Lady no more Gaga." It's clear that this marks the "end" of her fame.

Throughout the video there are images of dead women flashing in between dance breaks. Lying in a bathtub, on the stairs, in the grass, in the lobby, surrounded by a puddle of blood, stabbed, smothered, hanging from a rope. I lost count of how many nameless female victims lay strewn throughout Lady Gaga's video.

In the end, she successfully hunts down the boyfriend who hurt her and poisons him to death. She tells on herself for the crime and is a glorified celebrity all over again. Headlines this time read "She's Back" and "We love her again!"

I can't understand why so many female singers are choosing to have images of violence against women in their videos. The video reinforces the power of misogyny in our culture and encourages the idea that we can only end violence with more violence.

What do you all think?