Value

The stereotypical killer is someone who is a lone-wolf, crazy, isolated, and usually with dominance insecurity, but in reality, the people we see as killers and criminals come from many different backgrounds. In Gloria Steinem’s article, she argues that dominance and the necessity to have control is what motivates these killers, predominantly men, to attack. The most imperative problem we have to address as a society, however, is to change how we expect men to act and think. If we instill in boys at a young age that it is unmanly to cry and to show emotions, then these boys will grow up to be men who can’t express their feelings and resort to violent outbursts to assert their dominance. Elliot Leyton beautifully phrases this idea by saying that “it's the impossible expectation of dominance to which they've become addicted.” I don’t believe that people are born evil. I believe that through societies strict standards of how people should act and the lack of autonomy people have to express their emotions without criticism is what leads to such outbursts of aggression and criminal behavior. 

This expectation of dominance is threatened, as Tourjée concludes in her article, by transgender women because transgender women renounce the very thing which men identify with: masculinity. Not only this, but if a man flirts with a transgender woman he immediately feels tricked, humiliated, and emasculated. In order to regain his masculinity and dominance, the man will often resort to violent acts because a portrayal of strength and force is what is associated with masculinity in our society. Steinem’s article really brings attention to the role media plays in determining whose identities go unrecognized, who gets the most publicity, and who is except from criticism. For example, the sexual assault and rape charges against Harvey Weinstein are all over the media, but cases such as this one happen almost every day, but are not covered by the media. This idea is also expressed in Ritchie’s article when she brings attention to the fact that some complaints from victims who experienced sexual violence are ignored depending on their race and socioeconomic status. Not only this, but in the case of police violence, victims of sexual violence—especially women—are often afraid to report what had happened. These women are afraid to report because it is likely that their word won’t be believed over a policeman’s word as well as the fact that it is a woman’s word against a man’s word, which as we have read about in previous texts, is deemed as less valued and respected.  

-Jane B