one would enjoy being taken care of by my lover in exchange for taking care of our house. If more men were presented with this option they could and would choose it for themselves. People are readily accepting of the fact that men are primarily the perpetrators of violent crime.4 They are not, however willing to accept that men are also primarily the victims of violent crime. This is contentious and no one could win either side of a debate on the issue, because complete informa- tion is not available. Even if sexual assault is tabulated in the equation the victims of violent crime are more often than not male. Homicide victims of wars, and prison sexual assault victims, are not consid- ered in most census accounts describing victims of crime. An attitude of, " Well if men are killing and raping each other, so what? That's their problem," is a common reaction. This does not make it okay. The context does not make these crimes acceptable; violence is a horrendous crime regardless of the identity of the victim. It does however take away from people's compassion when it comes to looking at men as victims. If our society would deplore violence towards men as much as other "groups" we would have an increasingly peaceful world. The more that we watch hockey games, and action films, and val- orize wars, the more we condone violence in general. Abused people become the abusers, the cycle has to stop. There are some solutions. The best remedy is a non-violent education, beginning in early child- hood. Streamlining people by sex into general categories may be convenient, but eventually ends up to be harmful. We are not wholly bad or good. We are both responsible and not responsible for the way things were and are. We can understand that men are also victimized by the system in which we live. | would appreciate a balanced appraisal of the male gender. Maybe giving a few positive aspects for every = negative one. Criticism can sometimes feel like an attack or a great suggestion. Will it be more produc- * tive to further the image of men mostly connotative with a vindictive depiction? Or allow us to embody positive models of what men are? Men need to change how they see and value themselves. Just as it is problematic to define feminism, it is Just as there is many different kinds of feminists, there are also many different kinds of men. Let's stop exploiting each other. We can't fix the past, we can only improve the future. " There aret sane "€ two kinds of m much: those who Cannot do hee ah told, and those who can do nothing else." Cyrus H. Curtis 1 Tuttle, Lisa, Encyclopedia of Feminism, (Facts on File Publications, New York, 1986), 242. 2 Farrell Ph.D., Warren, The Myth of Male Power, (Simon & Schuster, Toronto, 1993), 106. This figure relates to deaths from job-related injuries, not dying of a disease that may or may not be related to work. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIOSH (Morgantown, West Va.), on-line database titled "Basic Information on Workplace safety and Health in the U.S.," latest information available as of July 1992. 3 Claiborne, Robert, The Roots of English: A Readers Handbook of Word Origins, (Times Books, Toronto, 1989), 213-214. 4 Farrell, The Myth..., never ey are amount to +4 ‘one would enjoy being taken care of by my lover in exchange for taking care of our house. If more men were presented with this option they could and would choose it for themselves. People are readily accepting of the fact that men are primarily the perpetrators of violent crime. They are not, however willing to accept that men are also primarily the victims of violent crime. This is contentious and no one could win either side of a debate on the issue, because complete informa- tion is not available. Even if sexual assault is tabulated in the equation the victims of violent crime are more often than not male. Homicide victims of wars, and prison sexual assault victims, are not consid- tered in most census accounts describing victims of crime. An attitude of, " Well if men are killing and raping each other, so what? That's their problem," is a common reaction. This does not make it okay. The context does not make these crimes acceptable; violence is a horrendous crime regardless of the identity of the victim. It does however take away from people's compassion when it comes to looking at men as victims. If our society would deplore violence towards men as much as other *groups" we would have an increasingly peaceful world. The more that we watch hockey games, and action films, and val- orize wars, the more we condone violence in general. Abused people become the abusers, the cycle has to stop. ‘There are some solutions. The best remedy is a non-violent education, beginning in early child- hood. Streamlining people by sex into general categories may be convenient, but eventually ends up to be harmful. We are not wholly bad or good. We are both responsible and not responsible for the way things were and are. We can understand that men are also victimized by the system in which we live. | | would appreciate a balanced appraisal of the male gender. Maybe giving a few positive aspects for every negative one. Criticism can sometimes feel like an attack or a great suggestion. Will it be more produc- © tive to further the image of men mostly connotative with a vindictive depiction? Or allow us to embody positive models of what men are? Men need to change how they see and value themselves. Just as itis problematic to define feminism, itis Just as there is many different kinds of feminists, there are also many different kinds of men. Let's stop exploiting each other. We can't fix the past, we can only improve the future. There are two kinds of men much: those who cannot do what heever amount to told, and those who can do nothing else." Cyrus H. Curtis 1 Tuttle, Lisa, Encyclopedia of Feminism, Facts on File Publications, New York, 1986), 242 2 Farell Pu., Warren, The Myth of Male Power, (Simon & Schuster, Toronto, 1993), 106 This figure relates to deaths from job-related injures, not dying ofa disease that may or may not be related to work Source: U.S. Department of Health and Haman Services, NIOSH (Morgantown, West Va), on-line database titled "Basic Information on Workplace saety and Health in the US,” latest Information available as of July 1992. 3 Claiborne, Rober. The Roots of English: A Readers Handbook of Word Origin, (Times Books, Toronto, 1989), 213-214 4 Farell The Myth i @)