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What The Malheur Occupation Teaches Us About Masculinity
Last edited Sun Feb 7, 2016, 12:36 AM - Edit history (1)
While the folks who illegally occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge claimed to want to overthrow the tyranny of the federal government, they seemed quite willing to leave the tyranny of patriarchy unquestioned. Their actions and organization can teach us a lot about how patriarchy works.
From the beginning, the men who occupied the refuge engaged in macho posturing with their display of guns and their blatant disregard for the law, the environment and the communities around the refuge. These are not successful men as traditional masculinity requires them to be. Many of them don't hold down regular jobs. Several have declared bankruptcy. Many have criminal records, from felony driving with a suspended license to second degree murder. Most left their families elsewhere in order to parade around with guns and wreak havoc on a remote wildlife refuge. They have felt powerless in their struggles with the federal government.
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Not surprisingly, even as we watched this toxic white masculinity play out in public, women were in the background of the occupation taking on the gendered roles assigned to them within patriarchy.
A recent story by Oregon Public Broadcasting went behind the scenes with the few women at the refuge. They were cooking, cleaning, organizing supplies and doing laundry. They served the roles women often do in conflict -- they created normalcy and offered emotional support so the men could convince themselves that what they were doing was all in a day's work, even as they committed unlawful acts, threatened violence, and defiled a public refuge. Not that some of these women didn't share the radical ideology of the men, but they defined their role in the occupation as helpers and supporters.
From the beginning, the men who occupied the refuge engaged in macho posturing with their display of guns and their blatant disregard for the law, the environment and the communities around the refuge. These are not successful men as traditional masculinity requires them to be. Many of them don't hold down regular jobs. Several have declared bankruptcy. Many have criminal records, from felony driving with a suspended license to second degree murder. Most left their families elsewhere in order to parade around with guns and wreak havoc on a remote wildlife refuge. They have felt powerless in their struggles with the federal government.
...
Not surprisingly, even as we watched this toxic white masculinity play out in public, women were in the background of the occupation taking on the gendered roles assigned to them within patriarchy.
A recent story by Oregon Public Broadcasting went behind the scenes with the few women at the refuge. They were cooking, cleaning, organizing supplies and doing laundry. They served the roles women often do in conflict -- they created normalcy and offered emotional support so the men could convince themselves that what they were doing was all in a day's work, even as they committed unlawful acts, threatened violence, and defiled a public refuge. Not that some of these women didn't share the radical ideology of the men, but they defined their role in the occupation as helpers and supporters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-m-shaw/what-malheur-occupation-patriarchy-masculinity_b_9116064.html
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One thing that I think gets lost in articles like this and the "amosexual" interpretation of the guns story is that loss of control not only threatens their masculinity, it threatens their adulthood - or rather their ability to see themselves as adults. They have got to have the guns and the swagger in order to feel grown up. Otherwise they are just little whiny kids in their terrible twos
23 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Secure enough in masculinity to comfort sick dog:
Was in multiple videos with her rifle sitting around the fire READY FOR BATTLE! 
