tough guise

I found the documentary “Tough Guise” to be informative and eye opening. Before viewing the film I was familiar with Jackson Katz and his views of masculinity and violence. The statistics that were highlighted in the beginning of the documentary I think serve their purpose to frame violence as a mans issue, done by men, to men, as well as women and children. I had never thought much about how our culture perpetuates this narrative of violence until watching one of Katz’s Ted Talks. Tough Guise brought to light how our societal norms serve to normalize violence. I found parts of the documentary to be difficult to watch, the violence, in particular the scene with the pornography example, made my stomach turn. Something else I found interesting was the news clip’s on the “wussification of America.” Boys being anything short of masculine was simply appalling. Something I found interesting was that Katz’s never mentions music as a narrative that normalizes violence. Rap music in particular is notorious for this and although music video clips were played, the music industry was largely ignored.