Masculinity and Gun Culture

[Area 52]

I'm currently a student at a Cal State University in Socal for my Bachelor's in Business. One of the classes I'm required to take is "Interdisciplinary Writing", essentially how to analyze and write research papers. One of our final projects is to lead the class in a 15 minute open discussion on a topic you wrote about in your research paper.

Well today somebody did theirs on gun culture and how it relates to masculinity in today's men. Specifically the presenter showed us this ad:


and this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQHWTfFV3Vc

(I had seen both already)
and had us analyze them and discuss why we thought guns were important to masculinity. Answers were 100% either neutral or negative in their view of firearms owners. They ranged from "symbolizes an erect phallus" to "used for violence, which is important to men". About the Glock ad, someone said the girl is "overly sexualized" and uses the Glock to "rob the attacker of his manliness". The conversation did make several turns toward gun control, such as my classmates asking (rhetorically) why people needed assault rifles since you can't hunt with them, or why people need 30 round" clips". It made my blood boil, which is why I neglected to make any contribution in defense of gun owners. I'm a pretty terrible orator, and nothing I said would have changed their views.

I did have one classmate who I've previously talked guns with talk to me afterwords and we agreed it sucked to see gun owners portrayed that way. The whole thing kind of left me a little less hopeful for the future, knowing these people are who is referred to by the phrase "jury of your peers".
Just figured I'd share and see what you guys thought of that.

[pastureofmuppets]

Everything is subject to stereotypes, stereotypes usually have some sort of general grounding. Advertisers also understand their markets.

The trick is to challenge it, but you need culture and it's advertisers to get on board. That's tricky.

[sl0re10]

Its like gay bashers. Gun bashers project. They're insecure about their masculinity.

Its kinda a lame ad in my opinion... but man card jokes are pretty common. The rifle is going to look like that regardless. Its the way ARs look. Even featureless rifles like the mini14 still have that basic silhouette... so there really is no way they couldn't make that kind of 'argument' about any rifle and its buyers... IMO. and, for what it is worth, I've heard anti gun people make those arguments about guns and gun owners... in general (any gun; not just scary looking ones).

But back to them. Can they sheetrock a room? Fix their car?... replace a light socket? (let alone fire a rifle well?) If anyone is insecure about their man card standing / masculinity; in general it aint us IMO...

The conversation did make several turns toward gun control, such as my classmates asking (rhetorically) why people needed assault rifles since you can't hunt with them, or why people need 30 round" clips".

Assault weapon is a propaganda term. Its based on looks. Why wouldn't someone want an AR15 pattern rifle. They're good proven rifles, easy to customise, and they can be inexpensive. Why do they want to ban rifles based on looks? 30 round mags are the standard mag for the rifle; why wouldn't people want them?

Personally; I have a RPK (which is a heavier duty version of the AK)... looks pretty boring though. Why this is morally better to own than an AR; I have no idea.


The whole assault weapon ban thing is about scaring people. The people pushing for it never get called out on it / the fact their arguments make no sense.

[Barang]

such as my classmates asking (rhetorically) why people needed assault rifles since you can't hunt with them, or why people need 30 round" clips".

Ask them why we drive cars that can go in excesss of 100mph but are only allowed to drive 55, 65 or 70mph.

[kcjr1125]

I think you should have spoke up. "Groupthink" can lead those who were on the fence or neutral to now lean more towards their side.

[rambutan316]

From the time they are little kids, girls and boys (for the most part) tend to favor certain toys over others. Boys tend to play with fantasy stuff like cars, planes, swords, guns, etc. and girls tend to play with stuff like dolls, stuffed animals, houses, cooking stuff, etc. Guns are a type of machinery/tool, and whenever there is something dealing with machines or tools, it's usually guys who show the most interest.

Obviously, there are plenty of girls who like guns, cars, tools, construction, etc. But these hobbies are still (and will likely be for quite some time) dominated by men, just like certain hobbies are dominated by women. Most gun owners and gun enthusiasts are men, even though there are still plenty of women who love guns.

[73Jim]

It doesn't have anything to do with either masculinity or bravado. I'm an engineer and guns check all the boxes of interest for me.

Mechanical action....check
Physics...check
Chemistry (reloading)...check

Also a LARGE percentage of my coworkers are gun owners as well, small sample sure, but reinforces my hypothesis never the less. I think if you asked a group of car/boat/motorcycle/aviation/off road "guys" you would have a disproportionally large number of gun owners. If you asked a group of people whom enjoy fashion/antiques/celebrity gossip your data would be skewed to non-owners.

Just my observations.

[Area 52]

I think you should have spoke up. "Groupthink" can lead those who were on the fence or neutral to now lean more towards their side.

I should have, and I spent the next hour thinking about what I would have said given a minute or two to prepare, but hindsight is 20/20. Another part of me didn't want to make waves though, seeing as I haven't presented my project yet and I have to rely on my classmate's participation to meet the 15 minute mark. There were only about 15 people in the classroom so it's no big loss, but I'm aware that we need every small victory we can get.

[Kodemonkey]

I should have, and I spent the next hour thinking about what I would have said given a minute or two to prepare, but hindsight is 20/20. Another part of me didn't want to make waves though, seeing as I haven't presented my project yet and I have to rely on my classmate's participation to meet the 15 minute mark. There were only about 15 people in the classroom so it's no big loss, but I'm aware that we need every small victory we can get.

I think you did the right thing. Having a bunch of people dogpile on you in a group setting when you are hopelessly outnumbered is walking into the proverbial firing squad (pun intended). You have to peel them away and talk to them one on one rationally and not when they are in an emotional state. Imagery is powerful, and even I had to roll my eyes at the Bushmaster ad. That type of marketing might work for some people, but that ad is a turn off for me.

I have turned many people on to shooting sports in the past years. But you have to show them that you aren't the stereotype depicted above and build a bridge. I've even taken out liberals (like worked on John Kerry's campaign liberal) out for trap shooting and they loved it. But it wasn't done in a day, and he still has some strong opinions about "assault weapons" that "spray bullets". But now he will concede why shooting is fun, and has a better understanding that it isn't all about "compensating for a small phallus."

[Epaphroditus]

Should have asked the haters if they hate cops ... cops have guns. Once they admit guns have a useful purpose then one can inject logic and actually begin a cogent conversation instead of vomiting up MSM propaganda.

I'm generally optimistic but folks can be remarkably adamant in their ignorance.

[IVC]

Not so long ago, a woman wearing a mini skirt would be labeled a "slut."

The same concept.

[sl0re10]

[blazeaglory]

Its really sad that the only people who compare guns and dicks is the antis...On the Brady website they mention the word "penis" like 1000 times. Ive never heard one gun owner ever compare his gun and junk, not ONE TIME.

Usually, if someone see an "erect penis" in a gun, that person has serious issues. I would have said, "why do you see an erect penis in the gun?" That says alot of what that person is thinking about. "So how many times per day do you see penis' in objects?" lol

Men ARE men and usually love things that go boom. Men do the hunting since the dawn of, well, MAN, so its natural for men to like manly things...That is what is so annoying about school. They OVER ANALYZE everything and each one of those pricks think their view is the correct view. They love self congratulations.

[tgunsmoke]

So if guns make men masculine, what do they make women?

[harmoniums]

In fairness, ads like this are pretty pathetic.