The ‘bois locker room’ case: The inheritance of violence and the need for positive masculinity

The ‘bois locker room’ incident has exposed the broken world that we are building for our children. It has held a mirror to a society that has collectively instilled its legacy of violent and toxic masculinity in our children, irrespective of their gender. No child is born with glorified ideas of committing rape. The representations of sex and gender within homes, in school, in the media and in crime have all come together to impart this perverse idea of masculinity. What we see in our children today is the inheritance of toxic masculinity that has perpetuated sexual and gendered violence for centuries, across the world. Positive masculinity presents an alternative to this interpretation of what it means to ‘be a man’, by fostering a non-violent and constructive expression of gender for boys and men. It allows young boys to challenge the gender roles of power and aggression expected from them to effectively end the cycle of violence. However, the inherent inequality of our society forces gender roles upon children, forcing young boys to take to violence as a means of acceptance within their community and peers. Young boys are often silent victims of misplaced societal standards of masculinity and gender norms, just as young girls are bound by gendered expectations to keep quiet and accept abuse and discrimination. Positive masculinity therefore, is understood within the larger gender debate, hoping to delineate the expression of masculinity from violence. Source - KSCF