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Are we 'man enough' to have this discussion?

Men and Mass Murder: The Missing Conversation, By Christopher Kilmartin (professor of psychology, UMW) and Andrew Smiler (Wake Forest University), visiting assistant professor of psychology, UMW.

Date published: 11/19/2009

ON NOV. 5, a man killed 13 co-workers and wounded numerous others at Fort Hood, Texas. On Nov. 6, a man killed one person and injured five others at his former workplace in Orlando, Fla.

The story of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood suspect, has been national news because he worked on an Army base. But the story of Jason Rodriguez, suspected in the Florida incident, is yet one more of its kind and quickly faded from view.

We have also seen a recent increase in what we might call "family mass murders," in which the offender kills all family members before committing suicide.

What do all the perpetrators have in common? They are all males. If they were all young Latinas, we would be having a national conversation about "What's wrong with Latinas?" and "How does Latina culture encourage this violence?" But as of yet, there has been little discussion about the masculinity behind the murders, which are generally attributed to stressors such as work conflict, debt, unemployment, or marital discord.

This is not about "men are bad." Often when we point out that gender is an important component of violent behavior, the charge of "male bashing" is used to shut down the discussion.

Fortunately, the vast majority of men are not violent. At the same time, the vast majority of violent people are men, and they are men who differ in important ways from normal and healthy males. Why do these men think that killing their co-workers, families, and often themselves is justified?

Masculinity is one part of the explanation. In America, masculinity mostly refers to being tough, not expressing your feelings, dominating others, not showing weakness, avoiding any behaviors or experiences even remotely connected to femininity, and being a provider.

Date published: 11/19/2009