The culture of masculinity costs all too much to ignore

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

The culture of masculinity costs all too much to ignore

If men committed as little crime as women it would pay for the deficit. They can change: testosterone need not mean violence

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The phrase "violence against women" calls for comment. It names the victims but not the perpetrators. The fact that men are mainly responsible for violent and health-harming behaviours, not only against women and children but also against each other, is so taken for granted that it slips beneath the radar of commentators and policymakers.

Take the riots of August this year. As the suspects were charged, considerable detail was published bythe Ministry of Justice. The press focused on the age, ethnicity, neighbourhood and employment status of offenders. Yet by far the most dramatic divergence the statistics revealed was gender: 92%of the first 466 defendants were male. Something yet more significant went unremarked: of the 124 individuals charged with offences involving violence, all were male.

When information on a further 1,715 people charged with rioting offences was issued by the MoJ a month later, the focus was on thefact that 73% of the defendants had a previous caution or conviction. Few noted that the MoJ had chosen to focus only on male rioters; females were absent from these "average" recidivists. What we saw was a palpable concern with the youth, class and race of rioters but a lack of analysis of the key fact the statistics illustrate: the culpability, and cost, of masculinity. As so often, masculine antisocial behaviour was just the wallpaper.

In 1959 the socialscientist and policy activist Barbara Wootton looked at the crime statistics and remarked that "if men behaved like women, the courts would be idle and the prisons empty". Half a century later the British Crime Survey and police crime figures bear her out. In 2009-10, men were perpetrators in 91% of all violent incidents in England and Wales. The figures vary by type of incident: 81% for domestic violence, 86% forassault, 94% for wounding, 96% for mugging, 98% for robbery. MoJ figures for2009 show men to be responsible for 98%, 92% and 89% of sexual offences, drug offences and criminal damage respectively. Of child sex offenders, 99% are male. The highest percentages of female offences concern fraud and forgery (30%), and theft and handling stolen goods (21% female).

The MoJ publishes anannual report, Women and the Criminal Justice System, whose purpose is to fulfil the "equality" provision in the 1991 Criminal Justice Act. But looking at statistics on women conceals the obvious: a comparable report on men and the criminal justice system would be policy dynamite.

On the road, men commit 87% of all traffic offences and 81% of speeding offences. More people are killed and injured in road accidents than anywhere else, and Home Office data reveal the bearing of masculinity here too: men are responsible for 97% of dangerous driving offences and 94% of motoring offences causing death or bodily harm. A World Health Organisation report in 2002 on gender and road traffic injuries cautiously broke the code of silence by remarking that masculinity "may be" hazardous to health.

Some of the costs of masculinity are paid individually. Boys are "permanently excluded" from school at a rate four times higher than for girls and attain fewer GCSE and A-levels than girls. But what of the overall costs to society?

Take prison costs alone – an estimated £45,000 per prisoner a year, 95% of whom are male. If men committed crimes leading to custodial sentences at the rate women do, the exchequer would save about £3.4bn a year.

Zoom out to the overall cost of crime, calculated by the Home Office at £78bn a year in 2009, including not only criminal justice system costs but lost productivity, service costs, and impact on victims. If men committed as few crimes as women, the overall number of incidents would fall by 54%. This creates an annual saving of £42bn, which would wipe out the current public sector budget deficit three times over. However, the most masculine crimes are the most expensive. A homicide, a sexual offence and a serious wounding cost £1.4m, £31,438, and £21,422 respectively (2003 figures). The most feminine crime, theft, is the cheapest, at £844 per incident. Thus the real saving to the UK of such a change in male behaviour would be vastly greater.

As the British Medical Journal recently pointed out, this life-damaging gender difference must be challenged by addressing the culture of masculinity that sustains them. How men and women behave is socially shaped. Popular understandings of masculine characteristics play up biology. Testosterone, the male hormone, the "metaphor of manhood", is portrayed as driving men inexorably towards aggressive behaviour. Yet studies show that testosterone is related to status-seeking but not directly to aggression. Many other factors are influential. Testosterone levels are increased or diminished in both males and females by diet, activity and circumstance. The opportunity to interact with guns, for instance, appears to increase testosterone, while men's testosterone levels fall when they are involved with the care of children.

The case we are making is that certain widespread masculine traits and behaviours are dangerous and costly both to individuals and society. They are amenable to purposeful change. The culture of masculinitycan be, and should be, addressed as a policy issue.

http://www.guardian....y-everyone-risk

Edited November 25, 2011 by Honey Crumpet

[Danno 1,228]

I dunno, I was raised to be both masculine and to respect women, to know how to fight and to know how to control myself.

I think you are barking up the wrong tree on this one.

I think one of the mistakes we have made recently as a society is to try to suppress the aggressive male nature rather than channel it into the proper expressions.

Edited November 25, 2011 by Danno

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Is this one of those ####### envy threads?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I dunno, I was raised to be both masculine and to respect women, to know how to fight and to know how to control myself.

I think you are barking up the wrong tree on this one.

I think one of the mistakes we have made recently as a society is to try to suppress the aggressive male nature rather than channel it into the proper expressions.

Actually, I pretty much agree with you on this. And in general, most women would. It's utterly facile to assume that men's greater tendency toward aggression can be somehow snuffed out. I think channelling it into constructive and creative expressions is a better path, instead of saying it's sui generis completely wrong.

Is this one of those ####### envy threads?

Nope. I'm happy with my bits.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Is this one of those ####### envy threads?

Not unless you're envying someone else ####### Kip. You trying to tell us something here?

[mawilson 2,133]

It's utterly facile to assume that men's greater tendency toward aggression can be somehow snuffed out.

Well, we could try and make them all gay.

Make them watch Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand musicals and Cher at the first sign of aggression.

And if they reoffend, all 3 seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Well, we could try and make them all gay.

Make them watch Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand musicals and Cher at the first sign of aggression.

And if they reoffend, all 3 seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race.

And for the death penalty we could make them watch "Sex in the City".

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

we need to outlaw men.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

On the road, men commit 87% of all traffic offences and 81% of speeding offences.

let's be honest. Women are far worse drivers than men and commit more offenses. However they show their tears, bat their eyes, or show their tits to the cops and they get off... They leave that part out.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The culture of masculinity costs all too much to ignore

If men committed as little crime as women it would pay for the deficit. They can change: testosterone need not mean violence

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The phrase "violence against women" calls for comment. It names the victims but not the perpetrators. The fact that men are mainly responsible for violent and health-harming behaviours, not only against women and children but also against each other, is so taken for granted that it slips beneath the radar of commentators and policymakers.

Take the riots of August this year. As the suspects were charged, considerable detail was published bythe Ministry of Justice. The press focused on the age, ethnicity, neighbourhood and employment status of offenders. Yet by far the most dramatic divergence the statistics revealed was gender: 92%of the first 466 defendants were male. Something yet more significant went unremarked: of the 124 individuals charged with offences involving violence, all were male.

When information on a further 1,715 people charged with rioting offences was issued by the MoJ a month later, the focus was on thefact that 73% of the defendants had a previous caution or conviction. Few noted that the MoJ had chosen to focus only on male rioters; females were absent from these "average" recidivists. What we saw was a palpable concern with the youth, class and race of rioters but a lack of analysis of the key fact the statistics illustrate: the culpability, and cost, of masculinity. As so often, masculine antisocial behaviour was just the wallpaper.

In 1959 the socialscientist and policy activist Barbara Wootton looked at the crime statistics and remarked that "if men behaved like women, the courts would be idle and the prisons empty". Half a century later the British Crime Survey and police crime figures bear her out. In 2009-10, men were perpetrators in 91% of all violent incidents in England and Wales. The figures vary by type of incident: 81% for domestic violence, 86% forassault, 94% for wounding, 96% for mugging, 98% for robbery. MoJ figures for2009 show men to be responsible for 98%, 92% and 89% of sexual offences, drug offences and criminal damage respectively. Of child sex offenders, 99% are male. The highest percentages of female offences concern fraud and forgery (30%), and theft and handling stolen goods (21% female).

The MoJ publishes anannual report, Women and the Criminal Justice System, whose purpose is to fulfil the "equality" provision in the 1991 Criminal Justice Act. But looking at statistics on women conceals the obvious: a comparable report on men and the criminal justice system would be policy dynamite.

On the road, men commit 87% of all traffic offences and 81% of speeding offences. More people are killed and injured in road accidents than anywhere else, and Home Office data reveal the bearing of masculinity here too: men are responsible for 97% of dangerous driving offences and 94% of motoring offences causing death or bodily harm. A World Health Organisation report in 2002 on gender and road traffic injuries cautiously broke the code of silence by remarking that masculinity "may be" hazardous to health.

Some of the costs of masculinity are paid individually. Boys are "permanently excluded" from school at a rate four times higher than for girls and attain fewer GCSE and A-levels than girls. But what of the overall costs to society?

Take prison costs alone – an estimated £45,000 per prisoner a year, 95% of whom are male. If men committed crimes leading to custodial sentences at the rate women do, the exchequer would save about £3.4bn a year.

Zoom out to the overall cost of crime, calculated by the Home Office at £78bn a year in 2009, including not only criminal justice system costs but lost productivity, service costs, and impact on victims. If men committed as few crimes as women, the overall number of incidents would fall by 54%. This creates an annual saving of £42bn, which would wipe out the current public sector budget deficit three times over. However, the most masculine crimes are the most expensive. A homicide, a sexual offence and a serious wounding cost £1.4m, £31,438, and £21,422 respectively (2003 figures). The most feminine crime, theft, is the cheapest, at £844 per incident. Thus the real saving to the UK of such a change in male behaviour would be vastly greater.

As the British Medical Journal recently pointed out, this life-damaging gender difference must be challenged by addressing the culture of masculinity that sustains them. How men and women behave is socially shaped. Popular understandings of masculine characteristics play up biology. Testosterone, the male hormone, the "metaphor of manhood", is portrayed as driving men inexorably towards aggressive behaviour. Yet studies show that testosterone is related to status-seeking but not directly to aggression. Many other factors are influential. Testosterone levels are increased or diminished in both males and females by diet, activity and circumstance. The opportunity to interact with guns, for instance, appears to increase testosterone, while men's testosterone levels fall when they are involved with the care of children.

The case we are making is that certain widespread masculine traits and behaviours are dangerous and costly both to individuals and society. They are amenable to purposeful change. The culture of masculinitycan be, and should be, addressed as a policy issue.

http://www.guardian....y-everyone-risk

Edited November 26, 2011 by Why_Me

[mawilson 2,133]

Damn... hot!

[sly_wolf 199]

The culture of masculinity costs all too much to ignore

If men committed as little crime as women it would pay for the deficit. They can change: testosterone need not mean violence

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The phrase "violence against women" calls for comment. It names the victims but not the perpetrators. The fact that men are mainly responsible for violent and health-harming behaviours, not only against women and children but also against each other, is so taken for granted that it slips beneath the radar of commentators and policymakers.

Take the riots of August this year. As the suspects were charged, considerable detail was published bythe Ministry of Justice. The press focused on the age, ethnicity, neighbourhood and employment status of offenders. Yet by far the most dramatic divergence the statistics revealed was gender: 92%of the first 466 defendants were male. Something yet more significant went unremarked: of the 124 individuals charged with offences involving violence, all were male.

When information on a further 1,715 people charged with rioting offences was issued by the MoJ a month later, the focus was on thefact that 73% of the defendants had a previous caution or conviction. Few noted that the MoJ had chosen to focus only on male rioters; females were absent from these "average" recidivists. What we saw was a palpable concern with the youth, class and race of rioters but a lack of analysis of the key fact the statistics illustrate: the culpability, and cost, of masculinity. As so often, masculine antisocial behaviour was just the wallpaper.

In 1959 the socialscientist and policy activist Barbara Wootton looked at the crime statistics and remarked that "if men behaved like women, the courts would be idle and the prisons empty". Half a century later the British Crime Survey and police crime figures bear her out. In 2009-10, men were perpetrators in 91% of all violent incidents in England and Wales. The figures vary by type of incident: 81% for domestic violence, 86% forassault, 94% for wounding, 96% for mugging, 98% for robbery. MoJ figures for2009 show men to be responsible for 98%, 92% and 89% of sexual offences, drug offences and criminal damage respectively. Of child sex offenders, 99% are male. The highest percentages of female offences concern fraud and forgery (30%), and theft and handling stolen goods (21% female).

The MoJ publishes anannual report, Women and the Criminal Justice System, whose purpose is to fulfil the "equality" provision in the 1991 Criminal Justice Act. But looking at statistics on women conceals the obvious: a comparable report on men and the criminal justice system would be policy dynamite.

On the road, men commit 87% of all traffic offences and 81% of speeding offences. More people are killed and injured in road accidents than anywhere else, and Home Office data reveal the bearing of masculinity here too: men are responsible for 97% of dangerous driving offences and 94% of motoring offences causing death or bodily harm. A World Health Organisation report in 2002 on gender and road traffic injuries cautiously broke the code of silence by remarking that masculinity "may be" hazardous to health.

Some of the costs of masculinity are paid individually. Boys are "permanently excluded" from school at a rate four times higher than for girls and attain fewer GCSE and A-levels than girls. But what of the overall costs to society?

Take prison costs alone – an estimated £45,000 per prisoner a year, 95% of whom are male. If men committed crimes leading to custodial sentences at the rate women do, the exchequer would save about £3.4bn a year.

Zoom out to the overall cost of crime, calculated by the Home Office at £78bn a year in 2009, including not only criminal justice system costs but lost productivity, service costs, and impact on victims. If men committed as few crimes as women, the overall number of incidents would fall by 54%. This creates an annual saving of £42bn, which would wipe out the current public sector budget deficit three times over. However, the most masculine crimes are the most expensive. A homicide, a sexual offence and a serious wounding cost £1.4m, £31,438, and £21,422 respectively (2003 figures). The most feminine crime, theft, is the cheapest, at £844 per incident. Thus the real saving to the UK of such a change in male behaviour would be vastly greater.

As the British Medical Journal recently pointed out, this life-damaging gender difference must be challenged by addressing the culture of masculinity that sustains them. How men and women behave is socially shaped. Popular understandings of masculine characteristics play up biology. Testosterone, the male hormone, the "metaphor of manhood", is portrayed as driving men inexorably towards aggressive behaviour. Yet studies show that testosterone is related to status-seeking but not directly to aggression. Many other factors are influential. Testosterone levels are increased or diminished in both males and females by diet, activity and circumstance. The opportunity to interact with guns, for instance, appears to increase testosterone, while men's testosterone levels fall when they are involved with the care of children.

The case we are making is that certain widespread masculine traits and behaviours are dangerous and costly both to individuals and society. They are amenable to purposeful change. The culture of masculinitycan be, and should be, addressed as a policy issue.

http://www.guardian....y-everyone-risk

Women are actually behaving more like men these days too. Violent crime rates for women has increased. So what's the story there?