Jackson Katz & Jeremy Earp

Tough Guise Name:______

Questions for Discussion & Further Study

1. What are some benefits to boys and men of putting on the tough guise? When is it an effective, and when is it self-destructive and dangerous to others?

Hidden: A Gender

2. What is the difference between using the common term "violence against women" rather than the less commonly used "men’s violence against women"? And why is this difference significant?

3. Why did "Thelma and Louise" become so controversial, when movies featuring men's violence against women are released regularly with little protest?

Upping the Ante

4. What are some of the potential effects on boys and men of trying to live up to our culture's ideal of physical size and strength? Emotional effects? Health effects? What is the relationship between cultural ideals of male strength and steroid abuse? 5. What, or whose, interests are served - or have been served - by the increasing size and heightening violence associated with the male body? What, or whose, interests have not been served?

6. Do you feel that the media simply reflect changes in society, or do they in some way inspire change? If the former, why was the stereotypical size of the "masculine" male so much smaller in the past? If the latter, explain how and why you feel individuals are susceptible to media influence?

Backlash

7. What does it mean to be "masculine"? What does it mean to be "feminine"?

8. Where do ideas about masculinity and femininity come from?

The Tough Guise

9. In what cases, or environments, do you feel a "hyper-masculine" pose - one based on control, power and the threat of violence - might be necessary? Are there such situations? 10. What might be some of the consequences of adopting such a pose? Consequences for the one posturing and those around him?

11. How do media influence - or determine - what such poses consist of? Examples?

12. How does the media’s portrayal of African-American men distort the actual experience of African-American males?

13. How much of what it means to be male - to seem male - do you feel is learned? How much do you feel is natural? And where are the primary places boys learn how to be in the world?

The School Shootings

14. Why are the vast majority of school shootings perpetrated by boys?

15. Why do you think there have been few, if any, such incidents involving girls who took up arms against their classmates? 16. If a girl, or group of girls, were the perpetrators in a school shooting, do you feel media coverage would emphasize the fact that they were girls?

17. Why do the media tend not to focus on the gender issue when boys, or men, are the perpetrators?

Constructing Violent Masculinity

18. What sort of pressures do boys, in particular, face during their middle and high school experience? How do these differ from the pressures girls face? How are they similar? Can these pressures lead to violence? Why does it seem to happen in some cases, and not in others?

19. If you were in charge, what would you do to reduce male violence in schools?

20. Do media images "cause" violence? How might the influence of media be felt in more subtle ways? Sexualized Violence

21. What is the relationship between a man's gender ideology (his definition of what it means to be a man) and his likelihood of using violence? Do images of men as powerful because they're in control - of women as well as other men - contribute to men's violence against women? Discuss examples from media where boys/men are shown as being in control of or abusive toward girls/women.

Invulnerability

22. Do you feel the culture is opening up, that it has started to embrace more willingly males that go against the traditional masculine type? If so, why do you think this is happening? If not, why not?

23. In what ways do some girls and women contribute to boys' and men's adoption of the tough guise? Why do some girls/women find "bad boy" posturing attractive?

24. What is courage? What is the difference between physical courage and moral courage? Cite examples of each.

25. How would this film define a "better man"?