Author: Jordan Roche

Normalizing Sexual Violence

I want to respond to the two insightful yet haunting articles on how sexual violence has been normalized within our society, and the underlying reasons for how such behavior is produced and maintained. On one end, sexual assault is going unreported at an alarming rate for young woman. On the other, female college students are at an increased vulnerability for rape backed by evidence. Underlying this insidious phenomenon, individuals still hold dangerous ideals and beliefs that shift blame and attention to the victim and not the perpetrator. These are commonly known as “Rape Myths”.

In response to the AAUW(2011) study that found nearly half of the students surveyed experienced harassment, but with only 9% reported. I asked myself why are these young woman so hesitant? As a society, we’d like to believe that our laws are established in a clear way that leads to little or no interpretation. The question then became what underlying beliefs and ideals are being reinforced into our younger generation as they enter adolescence. Another question could potentially be how has a patriarchal society influenced young men into being on the “dominant” end of the spectrum. A society that encourages and welcomes male aggression and power can have dangerous and long lasting consequences that make life particularly for woman a lot closer to what could be described as hell.

I was not surprised to learn that in Iconis article, it was found that individuals who hold sexist ideals or negative attitudes towards women, in these environments there are greater numbers of rape acceptance. I happen to find that these ideals do not only stem from the domain of patriarchy, but likely have a religious backing as well. Men are often seen in the religious spectrum as the “head of the house” in many instances. These ideas can be extremely dangerous and contribute to what was an already patriarchal society. It is absurd for people to believe that a women who hikes at night, is fair game for harassment, rape, and in some cases death. I live in Lindenwood, Queens. I am 5-10 minutes away from what was and continues to be a horrendous murder that occurred in Howard Beach. Where a young woman was sexually assaulted and murdered after leaving for a run in the evening. Acock and Irelands (1983) research suggests that one of the rape myths that exists that individuals will search for the actions on the victims end to “justify attributions of blame when victims violated traditional gender norms”. This is absurd, and it needs to be tackled with contrition from all decent and reasonable human beings.

 

The Men America Left Behind

In response to “The men America left behind” by Kirsten Wier, I happen to find a great deal of validity and apparent truth in her verbatim. Society and Culture changes over time, and with it we as a society adopt new ideas, get rid of older ones, continue and evolve. As a result the people within these societies are nearly forced to adapt and evolve. As of today in this case, we are starting to see a seismic shift in masculinity and particularly the negative emotional, physical, and economic impact on specifically straight white American men.

I want to focus on the stereotype that exists where individuals minimize the distress and disconnection that white males are experiencing. However, brought to light in this article, it was noted how “despair deaths” or ones that are the consequence of alcoholism, and substance abuse among other things are rising among middle aged white males without education.

It’s interesting how severe the phycological effect has had on these individuals, quite possibly due to the fact that the masculine ideology for a unique time in history has been challenged. Where ideals such as toughness and self reliance are put into question, after years of social reinforcement from parents, friends, teachers and peers have used these dangerous ideals to mold these young white men.

According to Professor Y. Joel Wong, there is “conformity to three masculine norms” (Playboy behavior, power over women, and self reliance). I want to focus on self reliance, and why there should be more of a vulnerability to accept support and being content with assistance in ones life. I believe self reliance can be useful in certain circumstances and situation, however the ability to communicate and even the trait of openness in every case shows to have positive impact on all domains and outcomes. This type of dangerous thinking that has been adopted and now questioned has gotten In the way of solutions and only increased the gender gap.

Post # 1

Hello everybody. My name is Jordan Omar Roche and my major is currently Clinical Psychology. I am a newly transferred student from NYCCT. This is my third year, and although this course qualifies as a Pluralism & Diversity requirement, It caught my interest and I look forward to learning a solid foundation to the Psychology of Human Sexuality!.