We need to look more into cycle of violence experienced by men
IN response to a NewsDay article titled Gender analysis critical to getting full picture of Gukurahundi published on February 23, 2024, When it comes to violent crime, the typically unaddressed elephant in the room is: why are some men so “evil”?
Unlike with female violent offenders, male offenders are promptly demonised by all three forms of Western media — entertainment, news and social — without any concern as to the likely trauma the men have suffered at some point, especially in their cerebrally formative years.
With men, they are socially, albeit implicitly, expected to suck up their trauma as real men would/should.
Then they turn to heavy selfmedicating, which, if anything, exacerbates their suppressed trauma and untreated anger.
And a vicious cycle can readily self-perpetuate.
Contrarily, with female offenders it’s like there is an assumption that someone, likely a male relation, must have messed her up via serious abuse.
They are very much encouraged by the media to speak up/ out about any abuse they suffered; they are meant to promptly receive sympathy along with criminal justice against their abuser [nowadays without any critical eye as to possible fabrication].
Meantime, there remains a subtle societal take-it-like-a-man mentality, one in which many young males will choose to abstain from “complaining” about their turmoil, even sexual victimisation, as that is what “real men” do.
A similar mindset also persists, albeit perhaps subconsciously: Men can take care of themselves, and boys are basically little men.
It could be the same mindset that might help explain why the author of Childhood Disrupted was only able to include one male among its six interviewed subjects, there presumably being such a small pool of adverse childhood experiencestraumatised males willing to formally tell his own story of traumatic childhood adversity.
Again, those men will be expected to suck up their trauma as real men would/should.
They then may turn to self-medicating, which, if anything, exacerbates their suppressed trauma and untreated anger, etcetera.
And the vicious cycle readily selfperpetuates.