| Other Societal Aspects of Men's Oppression |
Other Societal Aspects
of Men's Oppression
Homophobia and Gay Oppression
All humans have a deep need for closeness with other humans, regardless of gender.
Homophobia is "the fear of being close to someone of the same gender as oneself." Fear of closeness between men is enforced with viciousness and violence in most cultures and on a world-wide scale. It adds violence and prejudice in nearly every situation. In many societies, men are raised to compete viciously with other men, to scorn men who are different from the culturally-enforced norm, and to seek and accept closeness exclusively with women. This socially enforced fear of closeness between men provides a common basis for the attitudes that allow men to kill each other in wars, to engage in suicidal behaviors to "prove" their masculinity, and to terrorize women, men, and children whom they perceive to be weaker than themselves.
The terrorizing and scapegoating of some men by other men has been a critical part of the oppression of men. It sets up examples of what will happen should one resist oppression and step out of the "normal" role of
"being male."
Gay oppression is the systematic mistreatment of people who identify as Gay, Lesbian, or bisexual. As well as having a cruel and devastating effect on the targeted groups, Gay oppression is used to terrorize all men into conformity to oppressive male roles.
Sexual relations between people of the same gender, and in particular between males, are treated with horror and disgust and terror in most cultures. None of this is justified. It is perfectly possible in every species of living creatures for individuals of the same gender to participate in sexual activity together and, in the case of humans, for distress recordings to be installed.
These recordings tend to compel the individuals to persist in the sexual activity because of the strange feelings left from the experience. The recordings will often also include positive feelings of sexual desire and excitement, affection, and admiration, as well as physical closeness. The individuals carrying these distress recordings can then experience powerful attractions and compulsions toward participation in sex with people of the same gender. These attractions or compulsions will often seem to the participants to completely replace the instinctive attraction between different sexes typically regarded by the culture as "normal." Persistent use of Re-evaluation Counseling with a wide variety of clients has led to the conclusion that a person who carries a Gay pattern does so only as a result of distress recordings being installed in this way.
Freeing individuals from these patterns is perfectly possible and can be accomplished, but the extreme repression turned on individuals and organized in the cultures often makes this a difficult task. Being condemned, argued with, scolded, and rejected simply reinforces any patterned rigidities, confuses the rest of the population, and inhibits the discharge necessary for a person to freely give up participation in such a pattern (or, indeed, any pattern). Gay people in RC are not asked to commit themselves to give up a Gay life, but it has produced much discharge and movement out of distress to ask them to arrange sessions with each other, or with trusted allies, based on assuming that "it may be true" that Gayness is dependent on the installation of distress recordings. Since the entire subject is, at present, covered with distress in the present cultures, a warm and reasonable attitude by the counselor can make it possible for the client to cooperate enough and discharge enough that he (or she) can decide for himself (or herself) out of his (or her) own experience in counseling what he (or she) desires for himself (or herself) and his (or her) relationships.
GOALS
We seek to eliminate homophobia and Gay oppression. We seek to challenge them both at every turn. We seek to expose the origins of homosexuality and Gay oppression and assist people to discharge them.
STRATEGIES
a) Create and encourage opportunities for males to be close and allied with one another from the earliest age. Celebrate and encourage men's closeness with each other. Appreciate Gay men for modeling closeness between men and for prioritizing men's relationships with each other. In an era when in many Western cultures Gay oppression and homophobia have viciously interfered with men's ability to be close to each other, it has been for the most part Gay men who continue to show that such closeness is possible. However, this closeness has no inherent relationship to sex or to being Gay and is the birthright of every man.
b) Condemn any oppression of Gay people and, in particular, of Gay men. Expose the damaging effects of Gay oppression on Gay people, and on all human beings. Show how it is to the advantage of all humans to end Gay oppression. Express clearly that the RC Communities are thoroughly and completely committed against any oppression of Gay people and, in particular, against any oppression of Gay men.
c) Create an atmosphere of complete respect for Gay people, take an unwavering stand against the oppression of Gay people, and hold out to Gay people that it is possible to discharge all distresses related to sex, closeness, relationships with people of both genders, and sexual identities, and to make completely intelligent decisions regarding all aspects of their lives.
d) As a trusted ally, offer a Gay person the opportunity to arrange sessions with you where he may experiment with assuming that "it may be true" that Gayness is dependent on the installation of distress recordings. At the same time, take the position that it is the client who can and should decide for himself, out of his own experiences in counseling, what he desires for himself and his relationships.
Consumerism
Work could be the shared effort to produce and provide the goods and services needed by society to meet the needs of its members. Instead, work in most present societies is organized to maximize the accumulation of wealth by a small number of people using the labor of the vast majority in exchange for as little in wages as the class society can enforce. This means that the organizing principle of the work of the society is not what is required to meet the needs of the population as a whole, but instead, what can bring the most profit to the owning class of the society.
The modern markets of owning-class (capitalist) societies are organized around such phenomena as "consumerism" and "materialism" and the addictions to "toys" and to "keeping up with the Joneses." This consumerism is seen most clearly to date in the "First World" countries, but it is being exported world-wide. This consumerism is designed to create a market that can be manipulated to handle the kind of production that is most "profitable to produce." One result of this is that tremendous amounts of our resource and creativity are poured into strate-gizing about "what people will buy," thinking of how to make them "want to buy" products, to "spend money." Buying things to make us "feel better" is encouraged as yet another way to channel men's hurts around not having their real needs met. The things men buy don't often actually make them feel better in any lasting way because what they really need is to discharge the hurts and make changes in their lives so that real needs are met. The addiction to buying things to try to make men "feel better" makes them spend more money and need to work harder or longer. This approach is harmful to men and is a vicious cycle. This attitude reinforces the various other ways men are pulled to overwork.
This requirement of "profitability" means that the production of goods and services is based on what the people with money will pay for, not what people in the society need. This means that much-needed work cannot be funded and people wanting work cannot be employed. At the same time lots of people are suffering from overwork.
Governments collect funds through taxation which they can spend independent of profit, but the people who make up the policies for the governments are typically dependent on the financial support of the people with the most money.
So these people's interests are disproportionately represented. There is therefore no guarantee that money will really be spent for what people really need.
GOAL
Completely transform society from one based on profit via the exploitation of human beings to one based on caring and cooperative work to meet human needs.
STRATEGIES
Organize on every level to end every oppression and replace the present economic system. Organize people to discharge all recordings of greed. Create alternative institutions aimed at organizing and employing people to meet real human needs, funded in new and creative ways that prevent the interference of greed. For example, raise money to pay people to rebuild their own neighborhoods.
Men's Health
At present, as noted above, a variety of social factors lead men, in general, to die at younger ages than women do. Traditionally men have been deeply conditioned not to take care of their health, and men have a substantially higher rate of suicide than women in nearly all countries. In addition, men's internalized oppression often leads to self-destructive behavior. When these statistics are publicized, usually at least some men begin to take more of an interest in health and health care, and in why it might have been difficult for men to care about their health.
GOAL
See that excellent health care is available to all men and eliminate all conditions in society that lead to men dying young.
STRATEGIES
a) Use statistics on men's health as a way of opening up discussions about men's oppression and liberation. Catch men's attention by asking questions about their health. Educate health service providers about the reality of men's lives and men's oppression.
b) Identify and eliminate every social factor that shortens men's life expectancies, including poverty, overwork, violence, war, isolation, and lack of access to discharge. Offer every man the possibility of a long, relaxed, close, and productive life. Ensure that it will never again be acceptable in society that men die young.
Men as Allies to Young People
Men (and women) all inherently love to have close contact with infants and with children of all ages. Anyone of either gender is capable of being completely competent to play a positive role in the life of any young person. The usual social expectation, however, is that women will spend more time with infants and children than men will. Worse, there is often a socially-sanctioned suspicion that men are "not good" for young people to be around. As a result, most males, once they reach a certain age, are systematically denied opportunities to be close to young people (even after they become fathers).
GOAL
Organize against and eliminate the notion that men are not good for young people to be around, and actively promote the idea that males inherently want to be close to young people and will want to participate in children's growing up.
STRATEGIES
a) Hold out that courage, kindness, power, and gentleness are all human qualities, not accepting that "nature" has apportioned some qualities primarily to women and some to men. Men are inherently qualified to be caretakers and allies of children, and inherently desire to do so. A firm stand for achieving these positions will eventually garner widespread support.
b) Assist all men to discharge any feelings of separateness from or lack of interest in young people and their lives. Provide resource to men so that they can be intelligently loving and close to the children in their lives. Eliminate any economic or social structure that keeps men from being actively engaged in parenting or schoolteaching.
The "Mental Health" System
The "mental health" system is full of good people who have been trying to be useful in the struggles of people mis-defined as "mentally ill." However, this structure generally lacks an understanding of the nature of distress patterns and the discharge process, and has been largely taken over by profit motives.
The "mental health" system plays a number of oppressive roles. Importantly, it is used as a threat in the inhibition of discharge, in the general enforcement of conformity, and in the destructive use of "shock-treatment," as well as dangerous and damaging drugs.
GOAL
We seek to transform the "mental health" system into a system effectively aiding complete discharge of men's distress, freeing men completely from distress recordings, and promoting the liberation of all humans, including men.
STRATEGIES
Re-introduce people working in the "mental health" system to the natural healing process of discharge and re-evaluation, and assist "mental health" workers to support men to reclaim the discharge processes. Educate "mental health" system workers in the reality of men's lives and men's oppression. Change the "mental health" system from a system based on profit and greed to a system based on healing, from a "professional" system to a human community.
Circumcision and Other Forms of Ritual Mutilation
Circumcision and other painful ordeals are inflicted on male infants and young men by religious, cultural, or medical institutions as "rites of initiation," with a number of rationalizations. These practices are possible only in the presence of beliefs that the males either do not suffer or that the suffering and damage are relatively unimportant.
GOAL
Promote and establish the concept that male circumcision is abuse, and eliminate it.
STRATEGIES
Inform people about the pain experienced by boys during circumcision, and the distress recordings that result from circumcision. Organize all people, especially targeting parents and medical personnel, to eliminate circumcision and all other forms of ritual mutilation of men, such as scarification and tattooing.
The Mass Media
The mass media, including TV shows, movies, and news programs, present damaging versions of men. Men are portrayed as rarely to be trusted to act human. Many are represented as completely evil (stalkers, rapists, terrorists, etc.). Others are portrayed as "stupid buffoons." Even male "heroes" are often given one-sided and simplified characterizations. (Advancing the appreciation of women in public entertainment is not accomplished by degrading the public representations of men in the same entertainment.)
GOAL
Transform the mass media into a force that communicates the reality about men and all human beings instead of the distresses, and into a force for human liberation, education, and communication.
STRATEGIES
Encourage presentations of men in the media that include the reality of their humanness and the real conditions of their lives. Include in the portrayal of male hero figures their struggles and their use of the discharge processes.
Women's Contribution to Men's Liberation
One consequence of men's role in the oppression of women is that women can find it difficult to see the basic goodness and humanness of men. This supports the oppression of men in an indirect way. Once women have been assisted in discharging their difficulties in seeing the true nature of men, they will become powerful allies in contradicting men's oppression on
a broad scale. Men and women are natural allies for each other.
GOAL
Call for an alliance of all women with all men in which each is completely respected, and do the organizing work needed to bring this about.
STRATEGIES
Encourage women to lead men and men to follow women's leadership, especially in those areas (listed in this draft policy) where women have not been subjected to the same kind of distortion of their humanness as men have. Seek and welcome support from women, and plan on adopting an attitude of humility as an antidote to the sexism with which men have previously been contaminated. Seek to share the full disclosure of our respective richnesses.
Table of Contents
(c) copyright 1999
Rational Island Publishers
Reprinted on this site with permission of the copyright owner.