Absolutely the Best! And applies to all wonderful countries and people .

thanks catwoman...very interesting and thought provoking!!

"silence is a form of consent and complicity..."

Uhmm! Though provoking sure but not the best ever video clip I have ever seen! It actually made me feel a little bit sick!

Could you catwoman make us a small summary of the major points he made there about Virginia attacks? What's his point? I understand but I want to understand it totally.

Intro about the video:
Jackson Katz is an anti-sexism activist who works with emotionally and/or physically abusive men. He is a critic of the way men are socialized and says that masculinity is in a serious crisis. He has been trying to make a point that violence in our society is clearly a men's issue, even though it is not treated this way in the debate about this problem. There are few men that act against violence (rape, murder, abuse), it's mostly women who have been talking about these issues.

Summary:
School shootings should not be looked at as individual male pathology, but in a wider social context. It is a fact that men are socialized in ways that encourage sexism and violence and even though not all men act in abusive ways, they almost always internalize problematic attitudes.
These school shootings should not be seen as "youth violence", but "men's violence", because all these perpetrators are men and this fact is completely ignored in the debate.
Katz says that many men don't want to be part of the abuse, but they rarely speak up in the face of others' abusive behavior (rape joke, sexism... etc.), which is seen as a sign of complicity and approval of abusive behavior of others. This has to change, otherwise, if men don't get involved in the struggle against sexism and men's violence (against women or other men), these problems will never be solved.

Sexism is the route of all ills I gather! I am afraid, whilst there are two sexes walking on this planet some one will always blame sexism! I feel the issues around violence by men is a far more complex issue. I have personal experience which backs this up, that I would rather not write about here.

To Libralady and all those of you who think our constant "bleating" about sexism is all "a bit of a bore" and is just an excuse for having a dig at different cultures and traditions, I would just ask you to do ONE thing.

Substitute the word "sexism" for "racism" and see how you feel about it.

The way some women are treated in this world is no better than land owners used to treat their slaves! How outraged we all feel about the way we used to treat other nationalities and ethnic groups. We are all so satisifed that we have such a "civilised" attitude to race issues now. So why then is "feminism" such a dirty word?

Its a fact that in this world, women have fewer rights, earn less money and still occupy a subordinate role. If this was a race issue, you would all be agreeing and demanding change. Because its a sex issue, you start to feel uncomfortable with it and resort to stereotyping those people who dare to challenge the unfairness of it.

Libralady, you have told us before that you are quite happy with your life, get paid a decent wage and feel like "one of the boys" (not something to boast about, in my opinion!). Well, good for you, in many countries such behaviour (or even entering a bar) would not be allowed. Don't you want other women to enjoy the same freedom that you have?

(BTW Catwoman - fantastic link, thank you )

Catwoman first posted this "Crisis in Masculinity" on the 20th Feb. Forum title 11_13799 and it recieved no replies from a site with a high proportion of women.Read into this what you like

angima,
some people cant see farer than their own noses!

a wonderful point you made (good comparison).