Rethink Masculinity

A boy knocks down a little girl's block castle. Rather than disciplining the boy, his mother reinforces his behavior and the connection between boys and violence by justifying his actions through socially accepted gender norms: 'he is male and therefore is going to want to mess things up', and is therefore not fully responsible for his actions.

Two boys exclude a female peer from their game. Their teacher takes this as normal and reinforces the separation of the sexes and ideas surrounding acceptable forms of play and behavior for boys and girls, with athletic and physical activities being appropriate for males and domestic activities being appropriate for females.

Two boys resort to violence over a relatively insignificant issue. One's father as well as their principal attribute the aggression and physical violence to their being males and figure it a natural part of growing up. This reinforces the idea that males are more prone to outbursts of aggression simply due to their gender, and teaches that only through violence can males adequately solve conflict.

A boy has left his room messy. His mother accepts this as natural and, rather than teaching her son that he needs to take care of his own belongings as he becomes an independent individual, she picks up after him, reinforcing the belief that men are not responsible for the domestic realm and the duties surrounding it.

A girl sits in a police interview room, covered in bruises and make-up smudged. The officers looking in agree that the girl's clothes and appearance and attractiveness make her naturally a target for men's eyes, in a sense justifying what happened to her and supporting the idea that the violation of the female body is a natural function of the male body, reinforcing the idea that men mainly think about sex and are desperate for it.