Revolutionaries of many types maintain that resistance by
any means necessary is required to stop momentous social injustice and
environmental degradation. These activists recognize that those in power are
the enemy and that the enemy will stop at nothing unless forced to do
otherwise. Following this understanding, militancy is understood to be
appropriate given the situation.
Applied appropriately, militancy is an approach to activism
that pledges a steadfast dedication to physically intervene, when necessary, in
the violation of living beings and the destruction of communities. This
militancy is often rooted in healthy communal norms and an allegiance to the
bodily integrity of all beings.
Applied inappropriately, militancy is a reinforcement of men’s
machismo. It’s a too easy jump given the hallmark militarized psychology and
violation imperative of masculinity. To learn more about why militancy is
applied inappropriately, we have to talk about gender.
Gender serves the purpose of arranging power between human
beings based on their sex, categorizing them as feminine or masculine. In the
succinct words of author and anti-porn activist Gail Dines, femininity can be
characterized as an attitude of fuck me,
while masculinity is an attitude of fuck
you.
To be masculine, “to be a man,” says writer Robert Jensen in
his phenomenal book, Getting Off:
Pornography and the End of Masculinity, “…is a bad trade. When we become
men—when we accept the idea that there is something called masculinity to which
we could conform—we exchange those aspects of ourselves that make life worth
living for an endless struggle for power that, in the end, is illusory and
destructive not only to others but to ourselves.”1 Masculinity’s
destructiveness manifests in men’s violence against women and men’s violence
against the world. Feminist writer and activist Lierre Keith notes, “Men become
‘real men’ by breaking boundaries, whether it’s the sexual boundaries of women,
the cultural boundaries of other peoples, the political boundaries of other
nations, the genetic boundaries of species, the biological boundaries of living
communities, or the physical boundaries of the atom itself.”2
Too often, politically radical communities or subcultures
that, in most cases, rigorously challenge the legitimacy of systems of power,
somehow can’t find room in their analysis for the system of gender. Beyond
that, many of these groups actively embrace male domination—patriarchy, the
ruling religion of the dominant culture—though they may not say this
forthright, with claims of “anti-sexism.” Or sexism may simply not ever be a
topic of conversation at all. Either way, male privilege goes unchallenged,
while public celebrations of the sadism and boundary-breaking inherent in
masculinity remain the norm.
This framework allows men the rebellious “fuck you” to be
aimed not only at those who run the system, but anyone in their vicinity who
has boundaries to be broken, power to be struggled for. It should be obvious
that acting by any means necessary for justice is not the same as breaking
boundaries of those you perceive as enemies, which, in the case of masculinity,
means most everyone.
But, it’s not obvious. Thus, a group of male self-proclaimed
radicals I once knew could tape a picture of a local woman who disagreed with
their politics to the inside of a toilet bowl. Thus, levels of rape have seen a rise in anarchist circles and punk music scenes. Thus, most men in the
culture continue to consume extremely debasing pornography and attempt to
practice that type of sex on women in their lives. By any means necessary, to
these men, ends with a particular sadistic self-fulfillment, one that is fueled
by dangerous self-hatred.
Given that most militant groups have taken this type of approach
as a given, we must actively work to combat it in favor of a real politics of
justice. The answer is feminism, which Andrea Dworkin defines as a war on
masculinity.
Alongside challenging systems of power such as racism,
capitalism, and civilization, we need to learn to challenge male supremacy as
well, including when it is found within facets of our activism.
This is especially important in direct confrontations with
power. Says Lierre Keith: “[W]e need to examine calls for violence through a
feminist lens critical of norms of masculinity. Many militant groups are an
excuse for men to wallow in the cheap thrill of the male ego unleashed from
social constraints through bigger and better firepower: real men use guns.”3
To begin to reject this mentality, radical men should
practice stepping aside while women assume roles in leadership. Masculinity
needs challenging, which men must do themselves. However, men also need to
learn to listen more, taking direction from the women around them and learning
to be better allies. The world cannot handle any more broken boundaries; men
have breached so many already, be they communal, biotic, or personal. We need a
real culture of resistance, which includes an appropriate militancy. And, if
anyone should be armed, it’s feminists.
__
1.
Jensen, Robert. Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, p. 5.
2.
Keith, Lierre. “Why We Are Feminists: The
Feminist Framework of DGR,” Deep Green Resistance movement Frequently Asked
Questions page, http://www.deepgreenresistance.org/faq/dgr-a-feminist-organization/
3.
Keith, McBay, and Jensen. Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet, p. 75.
