What do Adam Lanza, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer all have in common? Besides the fact that they were all mass murderers, they were all white males from the United States. Why, you may ask, is this a running theme? Matthew Gutmann’s talk, “Men Are Animals: The Perils of Naturalizing Male Violence and Sexuality” on Thursday evening set out to explore this question.
Gutmann’s talk, presented by DePauw’s Sociology, Anthropology, and Women’s Studies departments, sought out to question the danger in the conclusion that men’s biology is their destiny. To do this, Gutmann conducted research and found examples in Mexico City, Shanghai, and the United States. Gutmann inquired about the connection between these examples in order to form his basic argument of “Why now?” Why now are people “becoming comfortable with blaming genes for behavior,” especially when it comes to men?
“If men are all the same in terms of what they do in terms of their biology, then they are less responsible,” Gutmann said. He argued that this superficial understanding that incarcerations are driven by a genetic code would rule men such as Adam Lanza innocent.
“If we looking inside people’s brains for the problem, we are looking in the wrong place,” he said.
This new understanding can mostly be attributed to an increase in hormone discourse across the world in the past few years.
“When men see beautiful women, their hormones go up. it’s a chemical reaction,” Gutmann said.
This is not limited to men, however. In recent years, women accused of murder have used Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as an excuse for over-reacting. However, there is a gendered hue focused on men that poses the question: “Why are men and their natural states explained in this fashion?” The answer may lie, according to Gutmann, in various sociological and cultural examples from around the world, such as the fact that 90 percent of convicted murderers in the United States are men and only 10 percent are women.
Gutmann also went into depth about People’s Park Marriage Market in Shanghai, where flyers are posted of single young people looking to get married. The flyers, which are usually posted by the individual’s parents, contain information about his or her age, height, city of residence, etc. Disparities between the flyers for men and women are evident, however: the womens’ flyers include details about their appearance, whereas men are looked at for what car they drive or what their prospects of employment are. In Mexico City, the subways include “women and children only” cars because of the frequency of sexual assault in this setting. While the popularity of this system has grown in the past decade, the concept has existed for 25 years.
The audience at the talk was composed of mostly women faculty and students, with a few male exceptions. The question and answer portion of the talk brought to light varying perspectives between the biological side and sociological side of different gender expectations. Some students found the talk a big hard to follow, though.
“It’s so important to understand that genetics and hormones are not acceptable excuses for anyone's actions because we all have agency to decide what is right and wrong,” said sophomore Emily Fox. “Although Gutmann brought up many interesting ideas related to how we discuss others’ actions, I believe that his main message got somewhat lost in tangents and examples that weren't always related.”
But Brittany Buckner, a sophomore anthropology major, was not disappointed by Gutmann’s insights.
“People often turn to biology for answers, but biology doesn't answer everything out there,” she said. “That's why I'm an anthropology major. I believe often times people overlook the context and don't look for a cultural or sociological understanding of things.”