By Sean Crosbie, SSH Correspondent
Street harassment is one of the by-products of the culture of hypermasculinity that is so pervasive in our society. David L. Mosher and Mark Sirkin provide an excellent list of the typical behaviors of hypermasculinity in “Measuring a macho personality constellation,” published in the Journal of Resarch in Personality: degrading attitudes towards women (i.e. viewing them as property), violence as a manly ideal, and the thrill of danger. All of the behaviors that Mosher and Sirkin describe create cultures of both entitlement and silence. Some men feel entitled to interact with women in an inappropriate manner; likewise, a culture of silence ensures that these behaviors will be accepted and not judged by other men in the group. Men on the sidelines may be afraid to break what Michael Kimmel refers to as the “guy code.”
In a previous blog post, I wrote about how women feel like targets in our male dominated public space, and how this has effects on women’s use of that space. The two friends who I interviewed for the post also had strong opinions about how hypermasculinity is a factor in street harassment. While both cited the culture of silence as a hindrance to constructive action, interviewee 2 noted how “having a girl on your arm” and playing games to get a woman’s attention (even if she is not interested) is seen as macho:
…Having a girl on your arm is seen as masculine. Being able to get that girl with a cat-call I suppose is macho…Society definitely plays a part in how people act because, naturally, we care what others think of us. And there are games that people play to get each other’s attention. It is when one of the people involved is clearly uninterested or feeling uncomfortable with the game that I think it becomes harassment.
Men feel they have a right to “…get that girl with a cat-call” just as they believe they have a right to “own” public spaces; both are symptoms of a culture of entitlement. Interviewee 1 pointed out how the culture of silence has a negative effect on men in a group. In this “perverse support system,” any man who goes against the “guy code” is considered an outsider:
We know that humans act differently while they’re in groups. Groups of men seem to reinforce “masculine” attitudes toward women, and cheer each other on while one is behaving inappropriately toward a woman or group of women. This perverse support system exacerbates the problem of harassment … I wish more men would step up and say “hey, that’s not cool, let’s go” instead of standing on the sidelines.
Both of these women agree that something must be done to change a culture where entitlement and silence create unsafe spaces for women everywhere. We must empower male allies to take action against harassment and not be relegated to the sidelines. Since none of the behaviors associated with hypermasculinity are biological, there is much we can do to change the education of men and boys and put an end to the attitudes that create street harassment. I will address some of the ways in which local communities and governments can work to accomplish this in a future post.
Sean has written for Stop Street Harassment since April 2011. He is a library/research assistant at a labor union in Washington, D.C. and holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from American University.
