Masculinity and School Shootings- GPAC Says Common Thread Overlooked

Masculinity and School Shootings -- Gender Public Advocacy Coalition Says Common Thread is Overlooked in Media Coverage

3/22/2005 12:27:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Riki Wilchins of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, 202-332-5550

WASHINGTON, March 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Since 1982, there have been 29 school shootings and another incident occurred yesterday in Minnesota. Analysts looking for the reasons why will likely cite the usual explanations: violence in the media, computer games and the Internet; rock and Goth music; individual psychological problems of the shooter and his family.

Since the shooting in Minnesota occurred in a non-white, low-income area, the usual analysis may be expanded to include poverty, discrimination, drug and alcohol use, and gangs. (See Washington Post, 3-22-05, at A8.) In any case, it will most likely be covered as yet another case of "random violence."

According to the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition What will be overlooked in the coverage of this unfolding story is the common thread linking previous school shooters: they are all boys who had been mercilessly teased and bullied for being less than strong, sports-oriented or "masculine" by their peers and lived in community cultures that tolerated a violent code of adolescent masculinity.

For these young men, violence was the way to reassert their sense of autonomy, power and "manhood."

Professor Michael Kimmel, an expert on masculinity at SUNY Stony Brook, has detailed this consistent narrative in school shootings: http://www.usnewswire.com/attach/schoolshoot.pdf

For example:

-- Young Andy Williams, recently sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for shooting and killing two classmates in Santee, Calif., and wounding several others, was described as "shy" and was "constantly picked on" by others in school. Bullies stole his clothes, his money, and his food, beat him up regularly, and locked him in his locker, among other daily taunts and humiliations.

--One shooter's father baited him and called him a "queer" because he was overweight.

-- Classmates described Gary Scott Pennington, who killed his teacher and a custodian in Grayson, Ky., as a "nerd" and a "loner," who was constantly teased for being smart and wearing glasses.

As reporters look for answers in this most recent school shooting, the link between the codes of schoolyard masculinity and violence should be investigated. Consider asking these questions:

-- Was the shooter in this case teased and harassed as unworthy, incomplete or failing as a "real man"?

-- Was he called a "faggot" or other homophobic terms designed to undercut his manhood?

-- Was there a jock culture at the school that ostracized shy, "nerdy," academically-oriented boys?

For more background information or to obtain Professor Kimmel's research, call 202-332-5550.

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The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is the national organization working to end violence and discrimination based on gender stereotypes.

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