Masculinity overdue for a reckoning after mass shootings, child advocates say

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Days after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, staffers at Men as Peacemakers, a Minnesota group that works with students to break down gender stereotypes and reduce violence, checked in with participants to see how they were feeling.

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Men As Peacemakers (MAP) is building safe communities through programs that address and undermine the root causes of violence against women and children including sexism, male dominance, racism, homophobia, and transphobia. MAP is at the forefront of a movement to promote equality and end violence against women and children. MAP engages individuals and communities in Minnesota and beyond, by mobilizing existing community resources and developing innovative primary prevention and restorative justice strategies that are proven to significantly reduce and repair the harm caused by men.

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As civic leaders and politicians look for ways to stop mass shootings, advocates across the country from organizations like Men as Peacemakers say their work is vital to overcoming the toxic masculinity that research has found to be at the root of many mass shootings and other acts of violence perpetrated by men.

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Although research indicates many factors contribute to a man’s decision to carry out a mass shooting, including his access to guns, his psychological makeup, personal grievances and extremist views, studies also show that conceptions of masculinity encouraging violence and social dominance are large motivators.

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“White heterosexual male entitlement fuses with downward mobility, subordinated masculinity, and other disappointing life course events” to lead mass shooters to carry out their attacks in an attempt to regain a sense of dominance after feeling socially outcast, the authors of a 2014 study published in the journal Men and Masculinities wrote.

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Weekly sessions usually start with check-ins where students are asked to use an emoji chart illustrated with faces expressing two dozen emotions to help them describe how they feel.

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Leaders often discuss with students how “performative masculinity” manifests in pop culture and politics, such as Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars and Russian President Vladimir Putin waging war on Ukraine, said program manager Jordan Hebert.

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Men As Peacemakers (MAP)

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address and undermine the root causes of violence against women and children including sexism, male dominance, racism, homophobia, and transphobia.

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Telling men they're inherently bad, and should completely go to war with their very nature, is contributing to the instability of young men in America.

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I argue a LACK of masculinity in the lives of these mass shooters is more likely to be the issue rather than a lack of femininity

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