By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
Very revealing and troubling research that suggests a significant proportion of the male population has been involved in sexual violence of some sort. Though the research is on students in the UK, there is no reason to believe it doesn’t reflect the wider picture where some 10% of those surveyed reported that they had committed on average 4 sexual assaults, rapes and other coercive and unwanted incidents in the past two years!
There are complex reasons why there is such a prevalence of this kind of sexual predatory behavour, from biological theories associated with hormones through to genetic predisposition, to a range of sociological and economic theories.
The report identifies a strong association between ‘toxic masculinity and sexual violence’, which is backed up by the fact that those who reported committing these offences also had sadistic sexual fantasies about raping and torturing women and believed that women who get drunk were to blame if they get raped.
As a Sikh, whilst I have no reason to believe that my community is any less or more guilty of this terrible violation of women’s fundamental rights, I do wonder about the widespread display and valorisation of ‘hyper-masculinity.’ There is a concept within Sikhi of the Saint/Soldier. I think it is significant that the ‘saint’ aspect comes first before the ‘soldier’. In the absence of high ethical standards, a soldier is likely to commit any number of terrible crimes against those who do not have the power to defend themselves. It is for this same reason that Sikhs rarely, if at all, engaged offensive warfare. It was for the same reason that the Guru explicitly said, violence must be a last resort and then only for self defence.
SEE ALSO: Research reveals rapes and assaults admitted to by male UK students (The Guardian, 29 Oct 2021)
In a society where Sikhs face racism on a daily basis, not to mention the persecution we have suffered for centuries, I can see the appeal of aggressive masculinity, typified by the glorification of warfare, weaponry and militarism. Some of this is integral to the evolution of Sikhi as a resistance movement. However, I also believe that the British Imperialists played on this stereotype in their ‘racialised’ view of the world. And in the case of the Sikhs, the British were happy to construct us as a ‘warrior race’. It is for this reason that we have such a big presence in British Military and security forces across the world where we became the de facto military wing of the British Empire.
Perhaps in the medieval world, hyper-masculinity was an essential ingredient for survival and that, as evolutionary psychologists argue, today’s misogynistic attitudes and behaviour are a by-product of this history. Even if this is true, then I cannot see any justification for aggressive hyper-masculinity in today’s world, where we can deploy peaceful and democratic strategies for exercising our rights.
There is another way for humanity, and this is very much articulated within the Guru Granth Sahib, which extols the virtues of kindness, cooperation, service, non-discriminating and human rights, as well as warning against the vices of unbridled desire, aggression, greed, ego and attachment.
In Gurbani there is a strong message to men about addressing their/our misogynistic attitudes and behaviour, to reflect on our responsibility for the active and passive involvement in this crime against humanity, and to change our ways.
There is also a message to women and girls to: develop self-confidence and esteem; reject the idea that ‘good’ women should be ‘soft’, ‘passive’ and ‘obedient’; exercise good judgement; and to stand-up to male oppression. This cannot be achieved by being isolated, so you need to form strong collectivities and together no doubt you can resist and even defeat misogyny.
Understanding Sexual Aggression in UK Male University Students: An Empirical Assessment of Prevalence and Psychological Risk Factors
Authors: Samuel T. Hales, MSc, Theresa A. Gannon, DPhil, CPsychol (Forensic)
Abstract: University-based sexual aggression is an international public health issue; however, to date, there have been no formal assessments of the prevalence or psychological indicators associated with the proabuse behaviors of the most common perpetrators at UK universities: heterosexual male students. To facilitate the development of effective primary prevention interventions for domestic students who have sexually harmed, we assess across two empirical studies (Ns = 259 and 295) the psychological risk factors associated with recent sexual aggression amongst two distinct samples of UK male university students. Cumulatively, results highlighted that one in nine participants (11.4%) self-reported recent sexual aggression. These participants could be statistically differentiated from their non-offending peers on various established indicators of general sexual offending, of which logistic regression analyses highlighted atypical sexual fantasies, general aggression, hostility toward women, and rape myth acceptance as being the most reliable predictors. For more, click here.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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