Violence in schools is one of the hardest things teenagers face in school. As shown in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation episode “School violence: how to fight for safer schools”, an interviewer reports issues of gender-based violence that schools in Canada are facing. In the video we are shown the difference of what dangers boys and girls face in schools. For instance, boys face more cases of bullying and physical assault and girls face more cases of sexual harassment/assault. Research shows that “41 per cent of boys say they were physically assaulted at high school; 26 per cent of girls say they experienced unwanted sexual contact at school; and one in four students first experienced sexual harassment or assault before Grade 7.” (McGuire)

Young men have been filled with so much destructive information about women. Young men have grown into this negative way of thinking because of what society puts out in there about women and men. “What it means to be a man is to be unlike a woman… the “antifemininity” component of masculinity is perhaps the single dominant and universal characteristic.” (Kimmel 2) Men try so hard to be nothing like women because they feel a women is someone with no value and should not be valued by society. That is why as soon as they feel as though a women is a threat to them they feel they need to take away that power and strength they have inside them by raping them and making them feel low of themselves. Not all men are like this but the men who try so hard to push away femininity and bring women down by sexually assaulting them is because they hate the thought of women having more power over them, therefore, they try to dominate them. In the video of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation we see women protesting to stop sexual assault in and outside of schools. This shows the strength and courage women have and no matter how hard men try to bring them down, they rise back up. Thus, that is why men become so angry because they feel threatened by women. Same goes for boys in school who sexually assault girls, they try to lower their confidence to higher their self esteem by empowering them and this begins to show from young ages. In the end, young girls need to come together in schools if they want to stop this violence and show boys that whatever they do it is never going to bring them down.

Boys who experience physical assault in schools is normally from bullying. “The fear of being seen as a sissy dominates the cultural definition of manhood”. (Kimmel 147) This proves that the reason most boys are violent is because they are afraid to appear like they are weak to other boys. Therefore, they try so hard to put out an imagine like they are tough and they are stronger than anyone else. These scenarios usually occur in schools, especially high schools and that is why there is so much violence in schools. “Violence if often the single most evident marker of manhood”. (Kimmel 148) Unfortunately, we live in a society that the only way for a boy in school to get that reputation of being ‘cool’, is by being violent and if you are not, you end up getting bullied and usually experience physical assault from other boys. Hence, this is why “41 per cent of boys say they were physically assaulted at high school” (McGuire).

The reason that violence in schools has not been dealt with properly is because teachers and staff have not been taking this issue serious. In the Canadian Broadcast Production we see the interviewer trying to get answers from a staff member at a high school in Newfoundland. As he tries to get answers from the staff member, we see that she doesn’t want to answer his questions or talk about the issue at all and tries to wrap up the conversation and leave. This gives out a clear picture that schools are not putting an importance on this issue and don’t want to try and make their school a safe living environment for their students. In the video the schools sent out letters stating they didn’t want to talk about the violence that has been happening because they don’t want their school to have a bad reputation. Therefore, this is why violence in school has not ended because staff members feel as though protecting their reputation is more important than protecting children facing this violence.

To conclude, gender-based violence in schools is such a big issue high school students face and an issue that needs to be made important so that students can go to school feeling safer. This issue should be brought upon parents of young boys, since it is boys who are the centre of physical and sexual assault. I feel as though parents should stop raising their sons to become strong and tough men and raise them to be respectful and caring men. This stereotype that girls are objects and men are more inferior to women, needs to be shown as completely disgusting to boys when they are young so that they know that we are all equal and we were born to love each other. By doing so, violence outside and inside schools will end and all this hate brought upon men to men and men to women will officially come to an end.

Works Cited

Kimmel, M. Masculinity. 1987

Kimmel, M. Masculinity as Homophobia. 1994

McGuire, Jennifer. “Why CBC Started Looking into Violence in Schools | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 8 Nov. 2019, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/school-violence- editors-note-1.5331402

Common, David, et al. “‘I Thought He Was Dead’: CBC Survey Reveals 4 in 10 Boys Are Physically Assaulted at School | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 8 Nov. 2019, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/school-violence-marketplace-1.5224865.

For this blog I interviewed my boyfriend about his male best friend. For the first question I asked him why he was close to his friend, and he answered “I’m close to my friend because I could be myself with him, we tell each other everything and I know no matter what he would always be there for me and he would never judge me”.

For the second question I asked what kinds of things do you like to do together, and he replied “We like to go out drinking, going to each others houses, listening to music while playing beer pong, we enjoy going to the casino, playing sports together, playing video games together and going to parties together; pretty much anything fun you could think of, I enjoy doing it with my friend”.

For the third question, I asked him if he ever told his friend how much he means to him, and how he reacted when he told him, and he answered “I only told him when we were drunk because when you’re drunk you say the truth, and he reacted in laughter because he was drunk too, but when we’re sober I would never tell him something like that because it’s not something manly to do; even though I do think it”.

Analysis: My boyfriend is like the usual norm of what being a “man” is. In “No man is an island: Men in relationships” Christopher Kilmartin states “the stereotypical imagine in the United States is that their relationships with one another focus on doing things together and tend to be emotionally shallow”(161). This example is just like his relationship with his friend, they do everything together that men tend to do but when it comes to emotion, the conversation stops and never gets deeper. I could tell when he says “even though I do think it” means he does really care about his friend but he’ll never bring himself to admit it or tell him because of his pride.

In the text, Micheal Kimmel states “institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes” what he means by this is depending on the situation you’re in your character will change. That’s why what is known as being “masculine” will always change whether you’re at home, school or at work. As well as, in the fourth episode of “Man Enough” what was spoken about a lot was that a man is portrayed as being strong, athletic, cool, tough depending on the situation you’re in whether it’s with your popular friends at school, with a girl or at home with your family.

Kimmel also writes in the text “Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change” what he means by using “masculinities” other than “masculinity” is that everyone sees being “a man” differently. Some people may think being affectionate and loving is being a real man, whereas some people may think being tough and not showing emotion is actually being a real man. Just like in the documentary “Man enough” the group of men said depending on how you were raised is how you depict “a man” is supposed to be.

In our society, if a guy is independent and inexpressive he is stereotyped as “a real man”, as said in the textbook “Defining men’s studies”. In my opinion, James Bond is portrayed as independent because of the fact that he doesn’t live by any rules, he does what he wants when he wants and does everything on his own. Independence is also a big image that men give off to show they’re manly because being independent shows you could do things on your own and you don’t need rely on anyone, you just do your own thing and listen to no one but yourself.

He is also portrayed as inexpressive because of his image he gives off. He is always serious and never shows any emotion; more specifically, he never shows he’s sad, or that he wants affection, and most importantly, he never shows he’s scared. Inexpressiveness is a very big and important image that men give off to show they’re real men, because when you’re inexpressive you don’t show your emotions, and that’s important to men as mentioned in the textbook.

In the documentary “The mask you live in”, what really stood out to me was when they explained that when boys are depressed they react differently than the way girls do. Instead boys will take their depression out as anger and become mean towards other whereas when girls are depressed they’re more quiet and sad. This issue really stood out to me because it showed the difference between how male and females cope with things and how if a guy cries or show he’s sad he’s considered feminine, which mean not manly.

Another thing that caught my attention was when the boys were talking and they were saying how they have to give out a certain image of themselves in order to be considered “a man” to society. They feel as though if they give affection to one of their friends it’s considered gay. This issue caught my attention because I find that absolutely sad that a guy can’t even hug his friend without being considered gay, and this is why boys become mean and grow into violent men because they feel showing love isn’t manly.

In the book from Carlos Andres Gomez, the part that got my attention was when the author was explaining how straight men use words such as “bitch, faggot, pussy” that they use them to devaluate the feminine and how it’s an attack on women. I agree with him completely, not only is it offensive to gay men, but it’s a huge offense to women, because they make it seem as if a men acts like a women it’s such a bad thing.

This documentary helped me understand Carlos’ experience because of what boys go through just to fit in be considered a normal man. That’s why after when boys show a little affection they think they’re gay because what is expected of a man in society is to be strong and can’t show any emotion. That’s why he wasn’t even sure of what he was because his feelings weren’t the same of what is expected to be considered “a man”. Having to live with acting a way that isn’t your true self is one of the hardest things to deal with.