Men taught to be warriors

Professor speaks about society's views of what makes someone 'more of a man'

Kathryn Gariano / contributing photographer Robert Minor, a professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas, spoke Monday night in Grafton-Stovall Theatre.

Speaking about cultural influences in the United States that scare people into being straight, a professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas talked Monday night in Grafton-Stovall Theatre to a crowd of about 200.

"Just because you are heterosexual does not make you straight," Robert Minor said. "We have to scare people into being straight, into acting straight, into looking straight, into thinking straight, into feeling straight, into voting straight — and that is what I want to talk about."

Minor discussed a pervading theme in American culture that's focused on war. As a result of this preoccupation with war, men are taught six elements in order to convince them that they are warriors. He mentioned the war on drugs, the war on terror and the war on poverty as examples.

The first of these is to convince the men that if they are willing to kill other men and risk being killed in the process, then they are more of a man.

"In our culture, you get medals for killing another man, but you can be killed for loving another man, can't you?" Minor asked.

Another factor in the evolution from boys to soldiers is the tendency to separate them from their emotions. Minor explained that boys are taught to avoid expressing fear, hurt and confusion. Instead, they are taught that anger is an acceptable alternative to being afraid, hurt or confused.

"Isolation and anger are the key male responses to separating men from their emotions," Minor said.

Men also are taught to separate themselves from their bodies in order to not acknowledge hurt. Once a man does not acknowledge that something hurts, it is much harder for him to realize when something may hurt someone else, according to Minor.

Men are instilled with homophobia, which Minor described as "the fear of getting close to your own sex."

He said, "The U.S. culture is the most homophobic culture that has ever existed on this earth."

At some point, men are taught that they are getting too close to other men, Minor said. This is an essential process to making men into warriors. If they are expected to kill someone, they can't feel attached to them.

He also said men are taught to devalue what is feminine. These values are learned by such common phrases as "you run like a girl" or "you throw like a girl," which emphasize a woman's status.

Finally, in order to make men into warriors, they are taught to "demonize" gay men.

"The worst thing you can call a kid in first, second and third grade is stupid or gay," Minor said.

Similar values, he said, are instilled in women so they value what is masculine and are taught to support the "warriors."

When women started getting close to each other, they started seeking reproductive rights and equal pay, Minor said. As a result of this, any woman who would do something for her own interest is rumored to be a lesbian.

He urged students to step outside of their gender roles. He said that things were not going to change until men become accepting of their feelings, and women learn to protect themselves.

"I think they have to step outside of a very fear-based society, which is forcing them into roles as men and women — including what I call the 'straight role,'" Minor said. "They have to have the courage to know who they are and decide what is now important is that they live as their full humanity."
Students reacted to Minor's speech.

"I like that he makes jokes and cultural references to things everyone can relate to and know about, so that it is not just some over-your-head scholarly thing," senior Amy Ray said.

The lecture was sponsored by a number of campus and community organizations.

One of these groups was Harmony, an organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons as well as straight supporters.

Junior JohnAlex Golden, president of Harmony said, "To think about it as the way we build up society and the way we survive as a society — it's not something I'd ever really thought about."

The departments of anthropology and sociology also sponsored the lecture.

"[Minor] tries to distance himself from [attacking people based on their sexual orientation] and talks about how this cultural conditioning hurts all of us regardless of our sexual orientation," sociology professor Christine Robinson said.