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Ritualized Violence Between Man and Beast

Today marked the final day of the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Tens of thousands of visitors came from across the globe. 45 people, mainly men, are reported to have been seriously hurt or hospitalized, while the Red Cross reports a total of 457 injuries. The running only lasts a few minutes each day, starting promptly at 8am, however collisions, falls, and bullhorns cause a variety of injuries to the heads, necks, groins, and abdomens of participating men. This year's injured consist of a fairly diverse set of nationals, including men from Spain, the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Greece, South Africa, South Korea, Romania, Colombia, and Ghana.


The running of the bulls is a tradition that goes back 400 years, and was popularized worldwide around the 1920s in the writings of Ernest Hemingway (who interestingly enough never did actually run with the bulls himself). Bulls that have been bred in fields and are unaccustomed to large crowds of people are kept in small dark enclosures before they are released into the streets. Blinded by sunlight, prodded with electric shocks, and hit by participants with rolled up newspapers, the large animals are forced to navigate through narrow streets. Oftentimes, they lose their footing and slide into walls, breaking bones and injuring themselves even before they reach their final destination and are herded into the bull ring. The latter is the purpose of the entire event, which has evolved from simply the laborious preparation of bullfights into a cultural spectacle of masculinity and world-renowned tourist attraction.


The internationally-attended running and all its chaos is then merely a precursor to the main attraction--a fight to the death between man and beast in the name of entertainment. Blurring the lines between tradition and sport, bullfighting seems to exploit a subconscious and masculine desire for violence against that which is wild and feared. In its most popular form, bullfighting has spread from 18th century Spain to all parts of the world, including Portugal, France, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Guatemala, and more recently, the United States.


"Bullfighting is nothing more than a public massacre. It shouldn't exist in any part of the world," says an animal activist and Mexican lucha libre (wrestler) who goes by the name of Super Animal. Super Animal, who refuses to give his real name, argues that most people do not support bullfighting, but don't bother to speak up. Together, the activists proposed the government hold a referendum in Mexico on bullfighting, to ask citizens if they would support a ban on the killing of bulls. The idea went nowhere.


Whether cruel or cultural, bullfighting continues to have an important economy of tourism and training. In France and Spain, many young men are enrolled by their parents in bullfighting schools. They learn at a young age how to stab young bulls, which often suffer a great deal in the process due to the inexperience of pupils. These schools exist by the thousands and are subsidized by their respective governments, not unlike cultural programming for the arts, and reveal just how institutionalized men's violence, in this case against animals, can be.

"What do you think continued international popularity for the running of the bulls and bullfighting suggests about cultures of masculinity?"

Please take the time to comment and also fill out our poll at: http://www.mencanstoprape.com/

The Side Effects of Being American

Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is a new documentary that explores the cultural and personal issues surrounding steroid use in the United States. Stylized in the same vein as Moore and Spurlock, first-time director Christopher Bell develops an engaging personal account of steroid-use within his family of three testosterone-filled brothers as they are driven to the limits of hypermasculinity.

The Bell family drama provides an emotional and humorous tone for the film, which is craftily mixed with key interviews and nostalgic images of muscle wrenching from the likes of Hogan, Schwarzenegger, Stallone and company. Bell's experiences allow him to successfully engage gym rats, athletes, policymakers, and others, adding a unique mix of voices to the debate. One of the more interesting interviews in the film involves an individual living with HIV/AIDS who claims that steroids saved his life.

Ultimately, the film explores an ambitious male body image, which can at times be both disfiguring and crippling to the human condition. At the same time, there also seems to be a series of contradictions between the moral consensus against performance-enhancement and a culture of masculinity committed to being Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, and American.

http://www.biggerstrongerfastermovie.com/

"Do you think super heroes, athletes, and action stars create unhealthy body images for young boys?"

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Gray Rape - A New Form of Rape? Or a Way of Holding Men Less Accountable?

Ever heard of the term "GRAY RAPE?"

Prompted by a controversial COSMOPOLITAN magazine article published in September (read it here) investigating what is believed to be a new form of date rape, Cosmopolitan hosted a dialogue at NYC’s John Jay College last week to discuss the impact and meaningfulness of “sex that falls somewhere between consent and denial.”

Neil Irvin, National Director of Men Can Stop Rape’s Men of Strength Club, and other panelists strongly refuted the notion of "gray rape." In attendance was Cosmopolitan’s editor-in-chief as well as the writer of the article, Laura Sessions Stepp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Washington Post.

Read Stepp’s article, "A New Kind of Date Rape" before viewing coverage of the panel discussion from the New York Times blog City Room and the Metro, which includes quotes from Neil Irvin’s primary violence prevention-based perspective.

We believe "gray rape" lessens men’s accountability while pointing the finger even more strongly at women. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section...

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Men Can Stop Rape offers a PSA series and Strength Trainings/Workshops that focus on CONSENT during possible alcohol and drug intoxication. Reach young men with our highly affordable posters, banners and postcards and paradigm-shifting workshop discussions. ORDER OUR PSA MATERIALS OR SERVICES TODAY!

Sex work or sex crimes?

A recent Guardian article raised the possibility that the British government may be criminalizing the purchase of sex, rather than its sale, in order to reduce demand for prostitution.

Two members of Parliament quoted in the article raised the following points:

Fiona Mactaggart MP...dismissed arguments that prostitution was an inevitable part of society, adding: "We have always had murder - that doesn't make it right. The price of prostitution is enormously high for women...[And] the more vulnerable the woman is, the cheaper the price is for men."
Denis MacShane MP, a former minister and campaigner against sex trafficking, added: "Until you have the Wilberforce moment when you say those who buy [sex] are just as guilty as those who are selling [women], it will continue to grow. It's not until there is a regular flow of men before the courts because they have paid for sex with illegally trafficked sex slaves that we will see a change in culture."

The question of sex work is a tough one for many people who work to end violence against women, with both the abolition and decriminalization camps making strong cases. If you view it as violence against women, then making a decriminalization case is pretty hard, but many argue, as this follow-up opinion piece points out, that "until women are given real choices in their lives, no amount of draconian legislation will change the current landscape of prostitution."

Both articles also reference Sweden's experiment with criminalizing the purchase of sex, and reached opposite conclusions, but this older piece from the New Statesman magazine suggests that it has been successful, at least to some degree.

I'm interested to see where this goes, and the strategy works. It's a debate I'm not hearing in the US, but think it's an important one to have. Regardless of the outcome, I'm glad there are so many great organizations out there working with individuals that sell sex to support them and ensure that they are safe and have resources. A few based in DC include:

HIPS
Polaris Project
Different Avenues