Masculinity

“Woman’s fate is bound up with that of the exploited male. This is a fact. However, this solidarity, arising from the exploitation that both men and women suffer and that binds them together historically, must not cause us to lose sight of the specific reality of the woman’s situation. The conditions of her life are determined by more than economic factors, and they show that she is a victim of a specific oppression. The specific character of this oppression cannot be explained away by setting up an equal sign or by falling into easy and childish simplifications. ...

Last week, a member of DGR Eugene brought author and radical activist Robert Jensen (no relation to Derrick Jensen) to town to give a talk titled “Patriarchy: Left, Right, and Center.” Video of the talk can be found here. The audio isn’t great, but improves partway through the talk. It is listenable throughout. In his talk, Jensen outlined how all wings of modern US American culture is patriarchal. He discusses industrial collapse, pornography, prostitution, gender, male violence, fascism, and resistance. ...

Via the Deep Green Resistance Women’s Caucus by Carol P. Christ/ Feminism and Religion Patriarchy is often defined as a system of male dominance. This definition does not illuminate, but rather obscures, the complex set of factors that function together in the patriarchal system. We need more complex definition if we are to understand and challenge the the patriarchal system in all of its aspects. Patriarchy is a system of male dominance, rooted in the ethos of war which legitimates violence, sanctified by religious symbols, in which men dominate women through the control of female sexuality, with the intent of passing property to male heirs, and in which men who are heroes of war are told to kill men, and are permitted to rape women, to seize land and treasures, to exploit resources, and to own or otherwise dominate conquered people. ...

The Women’s Caucus of Deep Green Resistance is fundraising to provide a stipend to a point person who will head up feminist organizing within and on-behalf of DGR. The women of Deep Green Resistance are hard at work fighting pipelines, protecting forests, defending prairie dogs and buffalo, creating alternative media, supporting camps like Standing Rock, participating in direct action and street protest, resisting pornography and prostitution, challenging regressive gender fads, founding and running grassroots organizations, and bottom-lining the continued work of DGR. ...

Local Eugene group Men Against Rape Culture is hosting two film screenings during the last week of January. Tough Guise Tuesday, January 26th 7 pm Tough Guise 2 Wednesday, January 27th 7 pm Location: The Boreal, 350 W. 3rd Ave Tough Guise: Acclaimed anti-violence educator Jackson Katz argues that the epidemic of male violence that plagues American society needs to be understood and addressed as part of a much larger cultural crisis in masculinity. Whether he’s looking at bullying and school shootings or gay bashing, sexual assault, and violence against women, Katz makes a powerful case that male violence, misogyny, and homophobia are inextricably linked to how we define manhood as a culture. The film gives special attention to how American media have glamorized increasingly regressive and violence masculine ideals in the face of mounting social and economic threats to traditional white male heterosexual authority. Katz’s innovative cultural approach to gender violence prevention has been adopted by the NFL, the NCAA, and the U.S. Marine Corps. ...