Toxic Masculinity and its Assault on Women
A horrific crime was recently committed against four young girls in a restaurant in Beijing, China. I have attached the link below for your information should you choose to view it. The incident was caught on film from a camera installed in the restaurant. Four girls were enjoying a quiet meal together when a group of men unknown to them entered the restaurant. One of the men proceeded to put his hand on the back of one of the women, and when she objected the man became violent and he was soon joined by a gang of other men. What took place is disturbing to say the least. This video has gone viral.
Things like this should not surprise us when they happen in cultures where men are socialized to believe that they are superior to women. In this case, this male superiority belief was taken to extremes, and serious harm was done to four innocent women. This is misogyny at its worst—arrogance so extreme that it gives birth to a hatred of women. So far, no strategy exists to successfully eradicate misogyny and women such as these four will live with the physical and emotional scars forever.
In response, young girls and women in China have resorted to signing up for self-defense classes in an attempt to protect themselves. Self-defense course phones are ringing off the hook, and so they should, but what are the men doing to deal with this attitude of superiority and their perceived right to abuse women? Our world has battled this attitude of male superiority since the day when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Sadly, it is now a permanent fixture in society worldwide. What we need is an army of courageous men and women to say enough is enough.
The Chinese government is highly patriarchal and has been led by men almost exclusively for centuries. “Nowhere is the gender gap more apparent than in politics. In 70 years, not one woman has ever been appointed to the country’s highest governing body, the Politburo Standing Committee. Among the wider 25-person Politburo, only one woman is included, and of 31 provincial-level governments, not one is led by a woman.” The consequences of this strict patriarchy have led to a devastating outcome for the country.
In 1979, this patriarchal government felt the need to curb its growth in population, so they decided to restrict every family to having just one child. Since the population had been socialized to believe that the male gender was superior to the female gender, femicide became commonplace. Today their population is 1.4 billion and there are 37 million more men than women, a serious blight on humanity).
How will the population ever reach a different view of the value of women if only men are allowed to lead? True leaders seek justice and equity, and it is their role to establish this purview among the people. This will require the governing males to see past their own importance to explore what the potential outcome of what their leadership might bring if they sought to value women as equals in their governance as God ordained them to.
But there is another problem that makes itself evident in this video. That problem is that other men who were in the restaurant at the time of the attack, ran for cover instead of coming to the aid of these young girls. Were they attempting to protect the abusers or themselves? Did they think that the abuses being inflicted on these women were acceptable? Whether intentional or not, their lack of response to defend the women and their attempt to protect themselves indicates agreement with the abusers.
Women and men are called to rule the world together—to create an egalitarian society as God intended. Nowhere in God’s word does he indicate a desire for us to create a strife-filled world by having one gender rule over the other. Under no circumstances should men assume power over women; feel they have the right to abuse them or turn a blind eye when abuses are being inflicted on them. How this must grieve God’s heart!
To create an egalitarian society, then it is incumbent on both men and women to close the doors on misogyny to whatever extent they are able. If men have been socialized themselves to believe they are superior, then it is incumbent on them to change their hearts and minds to value the peace and beauty that equality would bring to our culture in this age. One way men can assist in this, is to put a stop to abusive situations they might find themselves in, such as when they happen to be in the company of men who engage in talk that belittles, berates, abuses, or otherwise harms women. Either they can stand up to the abusers, or they can call the men on their misogyny. Either way will require courage!
For those men who choose to abuse, or not to protect women, could it be that they fear that their manliness will come into question in the eyes of these misogynists? Is it more manly to protect a woman in such a circumstance or is it more manly to join the crowd and appear misogynistic? What does it mean to be masculine? Is masculinity defined by avoiding confrontation with misogynistic men or is it defined in standing up to misogyny?
Is masculinity discovered only by opposing femininity? If so, this could well be what creates the inappropriate distaste in men for women. Does masculinity have to be defined by what it is not, or does it have a definition of its own? Where are the checks and balances to keep the female population safe from males whose definition of masculinity is defined in part by being anti-female?
Jackson Katz speaks worldwide on the issue of gender equality. In his book “The Macho Paradox”, Jackson tells how he will often begin a talk by asking men what they do to protect themselves from sexual abuse against them. Invariably the men will give a nervous chuckle, not knowing what to say. He then turns to the women in the room and asks them the same question. He fills the blackboard with all the self-protection habits that women utilize (xiv-xv). How do we respond to this obvious imbalance?
Alexis Peters is a sociology instructor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. She did her PhD research on the topic of toxic masculinity among junior league hockey players. She tested a group of elite hockey players and compared the results with a group of young men the same age who no longer played hockey. She found that the elite players were more likely to play through pain; find danger exciting; to see violence as manly; to have calloused attitudes toward sex, and to have generally lower empathy for others. Athletes who pursue these attitudes are more likely to have poor emotional literacy; poor emotional connectivity with others and suffer a loss in personal identity.
Her recommendation? Stop rewarding team members when they display toxic masculinity and start encouraging them to pursue such skills as excellence in their craft, positive life skills like time management, emotional literacy, and leadership skills.
God has given women and men the command to rule the world together. With God’s help, both men and women can impact misogyny today by bringing Alexis Peters’ recommendations into our daily lives by encouraging young boys and girls both to pursue excellence in whatever their craft might be, to develop positive life skills, excellent communication skills, strong emotional literacy, and excellent leadership skills.
[1] CNN Beijing Bureau, “Video of women being brutally attacked sparks public outrage in China,” (June 13, 2022), China restaurant attack: Video of women being brutally attacked in Tangshan sparks public outrage – CNN, (accessed June 16, 2022).
[1] Lorena Cantó, “Women turn to self-defense in China after vicious attack goes viral,” La Prensa Latina Bilingual Media (July 13, 2022), Women turn to self-defense in China after vicious attack goes viral – La Prensa Latina Media, (accessed September 7, 2022).
[1] Lü Pin, “China women still battling tradition, 70 years after revolution,” Al Jazeera News, September 29, 2019. China women still battling tradition, 70 years after revolution | Women News | Al Jazeera, (accessed September 7, 2022).
[1] Zixu Wang, Xin Chen and Caroline Radnofsky, “China proposes teaching masculinity to boys as state is alarmed by changing gender roles,” NBC News (March 5, 2021), China proposes teaching masculinity to boys as state is alarmed by changing gender roles (nbcnews.com) (accessed September 14, 2022).
[1] Jackson Katz, The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2006), xiv-xv.
[1] Alexis Peters, “Toxic masculinity is part of elite hockey. We need a culture shift.” CBC News (September 14, 2022), Toxic masculinity is part of elite hockey. We need a culture shift | CBC News, (accessed September 15, 2022).
[1] Ibid.
