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June
“Boys will be Boys" - and Sometimes "Girls
will be Boys”
The scandal of US military abuse and torture of
prisoners in Iraq and related activities at
Guantanamo continues to be explored, exploited, and
interpreted in the media, and it seems this will
continue for some time.
Recently, a colleague in Finland emailed me
suggesting that this activity came from the same
mentality that created military and frat house
initiations. Shortly afterward, On Fox Network,
former Army Sgt. Tony Robinson was not disputed
when he claimed that what took place at Abu-Ghraib
wasn’t any different from "fraternity hazing."
Subsequently another friend Kate Berardo provided
me with a spoof on this from the Washington Post,
which purported to be a letter from an Iraqi Sheik
apologizing to Paul Bremmer and suggesting that the
Iraqis be given cultural sensitivity training to US
culture…
“We had no idea that this was an initiation
ceremony for the pledge class of the Baghdad
University chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon
fraternity,” said Sheik Boutayoo. “In the
past the only fraternal organizations at our
universities were the College Suicide Bomber
Coalition and the Saddam Scouts. We’re awfully
sorry about the confusion and we sincerely hope
that nobody has gotten into trouble about
this.”
Rush Limbaugh took advantage of this same theme
as a way of avoiding the seriousness of the
accusations in the public eye—at least in the
USA. In other words, he is asking USians to wink at
this behavior as something normal and a generally
understood if not fully accepted part of US
culture—“Boys will be boys!” In his
case of course we may add that “Girls will be
boys,” since apparently Janis the “frat
house mother” gave tacit approval and Lynndie,
the sweetheart of Fort Ashby played a leading role.
(Will the girls take the brunt of this scandal
first as did Martha Stewart in the corporate
scandals?)
Given the facts of what took place, it seems
that many in the US are in active denial of both
the actions of military police and intelligence
officers as well as of the meaning of fraternity
hazing. Deeply rooted in US culture seems to be a
propensity to condone violence if done for a
semblance of the “right reason.”
Apparently, the right reason may be anything from
“turning boys into men” to dealing with
inferior people or enemies (inferior by
definition). If you want a full picture of this,
others have already given it on this site. Just
click on: www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/hazing.html
While British schools are known for problems of
bullying, and imitations may verge on the violent
in many cultures, the hazing culture seems
specifically US in its structure. The disappearance
of effective male initiation rites that existed in
many cultures and their replacement by cruel
caricatures seemingly fueled by pure meanness
provide the men’s movement with a challenge
that continues to beg attention. The dynamic of a
measure of fear of the unknown, a challenge to act
that provides enlightenment into the self and to
the society of men is a very different thing from
violent and dangerous hazing as we know it in many
college societies. It is certainly different from
what is occurring in prison contexts.
Madhukar Shukla, an Indian colleague reminded me
of the Stanford studies conducted by Philip
Zimbardo some three decades ago on the dynamics of
prison life. Zimbardo simulated a prison situation
and had to terminate the experiment because of the
danger to the students involved. The wardens become
sadistic and the prisoners were victimized. Power
over others quickly corrupts. When one can say,
"You're my little puppy, now", restraint goes out
of mind and actions quickly follow. This is not
unique to the USA, but is perhaps particularly
apparent here because of the size and mentality of
our prison culture. That some countries will not
extradite prisoners to the USA because they saw the
US domestic penal system and the death penalty as
“cruel and unusual punishment” occurred
long before Guantanamo and the Iraqi prison
scandals.
What key US values are involved here? Apparently
individual imitative and taking control, which are
often useful and virtuous parts of the US culture,
can overshadow and subvert equally important values
of fairness and law and order. Fortunately some
military operated out of these latter values, as
well as out of the value of speaking out when they
blew the whistle on these operations. This is the
way the US works when it works. Unfortunately, this
usually brings an issue to the public, results in
discipline to some individuals, but rarely changes
the systems substantially, whether we are talking
about hazing or torturing prisoners.
Despite politically motivated efforts to
“get this behind us and move on”, it is
not behind us, nor will moving on make it so. As
men we do need to keep talking about it in order to
surface and remain conscious of whatever elements
of meanness and sadism it have become unconscious
parts of our male formation.
© 2008 George
Simons
Other Resources Books
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* * *
There are no elements so diverse that they cannot
be joined in the heart of a man. - Jean
Giraudoux
George Simons
is a US specialist in intercultural and gender
communication who hangs out in Mandelieu - la
Napoule, France, as well as in Santa Cruz, CA. In
the 1980’s he was one of the founders of the
Hidden Valley Center for Men and the Cyberguys
network. He is currently the treasurer on the board
of The National Men's Resource Center™. He is
on the faculty of Management Centre Europe, where
he consults on virtual global teamwork. He has
written over a dozen books on culture and gender
including Working
Together: How to Become More Effective
in a Multicultural
Organization and
with Deborah G. Weissman, Men
& Women: Partners at
Work. (Crisp
Foundation) and is the creator of the award-winning
Diversophy® game. www.diversophy.com
or E-Mail.
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