Articles in Sociology: War and Gender

In her article "Men Hate War Too: Gender Does Not Predispose Men to War", Barbara Ehrenreich criticizes an earlier article by Francis Fukuyama entitled "Women and the Evolution of World Politics." She explains that Fukuyama claims that men have the monopoly on violence and aggression in the world because they are biologically predisposed in a way that women are not. Ehrenreich argues that men are not actually predisposed to violence, aggression, and war any more than women are and that it is only because of current perceptions of masculinity that we assume men are more violent and war-like than women.

I enjoyed reading this article because it really cut down to the meat of the issue, unlike Fukuyama's article. I agreed with the article's stance that while men are more war-like in society, that has not always been the case nor is it simply an issue of it being in men's genetic code to be aggressive and violent. The potential for violence really does like in all of us. It is really only because we have been socialized into the specific roles we hold today that men are the war-mongers while women are viewed as being peaceful caretakers. History, as Ehrenreich points out, has shown us that the world used to be different. The original deities of long-dead peoples were not only female rather than male, but they were not the push-over, matronly goddesses we think of today. Rather, they were harsher, stronger figures. (Ehrenreich) And flesh and blood women have not always been just wives, mothers, and vegetable gatherers. Ehrenreich points out that in Russia, the ancient remains were found of women who had been buried not only with weapons, but with evidence of having sustained injuries from similar weapons. (Ehrenreich).

One thing that Ehrenreich doesn't address, however, is the culture of violence in today's societies. While I do agree that violence isn't exclusive to males, and thus is not biological, I don't agree that we can lay the male penchant for violence simply on initiatory rites for males in various cultures. The socialization for violence in males goes far beyond the way they are initially 'proven' to be male by their societies. It is in the very definition of male in society. It is in what men are socialized to think, feel, read, and watch. It is in the way men are socialized to act. There is a basic instinct for violence, I think, but it is not so great in the human being that we can't overcome it. However, men in contemporary society are socialized to associate violence with pleasure. We can see it in the video games on sale that are focused on crashing into things, exploding things, and killing things. We can see it sexualized images of violence in magazines and advertisements. Society is teaching males that violence is not only acceptable from them, but that they should derive pleasure and sexual release from it.

Ehrenreich also fails to address the socialization of women in society. While she does point out that women are just as capable of war as men are, or rather that men are no more predisposed than women are, she doesn't talk about the fact that a good part of the non-violence in contemporary women is due to the socialization of women over the last several hundred years. Once upon a time, women might have been warriors, but that has not been the case for quite a while. Even in today's more progressive society, women are still taught, even if indirectly, that they should be seen and not heard. When they are heard, they should speak softly. Women are taught that in order to successful, they must take on more 'masculine' characteristics, but if they do actually take on those characteristics, they are seen as traitors and bad 'women'.

Finally, I wish that Ehrenreich had made a better examination of the differences in the violence and violent images of men and women over time. She brings up ancient deities and ancient graves but doesn't explore those topics any further. It would have helped to prove her point if she could have brought to light more historical examples that are contrary to the arguments Fukuyama makes in his article. I also think that Ehrenreich needs to explore more widely the influence of socialization on the war-mindedness of men and women. She does this to a lesser extent as she discusses male initiation rites, but she needs to explore this further and expand the scope of male socialization toward violence.

Barbara Ehrenreich "Men Hate War Too.(gender does not predispose men to war)." Foreign Affairs 78.1 (Jan 1999): 118(1). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Virginia Commonwealth University. 10 Nov. 2006