It’s Men Against the World (& Not in A Good Way)
In the fantasy world of superheroes we see men overcoming obstacles, defeating the villain (usually another male) while simultaneously protecting the woman they care most about. The woman is helpless and dependent on the man, as can be seen in the image above. She is visibly short, thin, and very often the damsel in distress. In fact, the only time women are recognized in relation to violence is when they are victims and unable to fend for themselves, not only in movies like these, but in reality too.
Women are made to be victims in the sense that men will be there to harm them while other men will be there to save them. Though for the majority of the past and even in present day, it has been more of the former than the latter. From the inception of attempting to form of a civil society, it was safe to say that the law was written by men for men. In the past, there were laws such as coverture, which legitimated marital rape and chastisement. Present day, laws in Pakistan permit “lightly beating” a wife if necessary and are the perfect example of furthering the construction of gender. This gives us the idea that a woman needs to be put in her place and this is how men receive a feeling of satisfaction from venting their power. When a man portrays a mastery over circumstances, nature, and all lesser-willed, he will feel as if he has earned the trust, fear, and respect of others. This mastery tends to come through as violence, in both physical and epistemological forms. Violence at the personal level used to be enough for a man, but in present society violence must be communal.
The desire for men to show dominance and instill fear in America has gotten ridiculously out of hand. The appropriate term for this would be toxic masculinity, in which a man feels entitled to take a weapon and kill people in the name of his values. The photo above shows just three of the multitude of mass shooters within the past decade, too bad this isn’t an epidemic that has only been a decade long, this is a problem that dates back to 1966 (possibly before then). Since that year, the deadliest mass shootings have created 874 victims, consisting of men, women, and children. The common denominator in 100% of these mass murders is a gun, but another common denominator in 98% of them is a male to pull the trigger. The fact is though, guns don’t kill people, people kill people — better yet: men kill people.
The sad thing is that toxic masculinity isn’t just a problem in the United States, it is worldwide. Whether it’s a mass shooting, a suicide bombing, or an “honorable killing”, it is extremely likely that the culprit will be a man, perpetuating the fact that violence is gendered. Yes, it’s man against the world, but he is not the hero, he is the villain.
