Responds to Tough Guise Documentary About Affects of Media on Men and Boys

Click Here to View >>>>>Tough Guise Video by Jackson Katz

 Undoing the Damage of the Media           

             I really enjoyed the documentary “Tough Guise” by Jackson Katz. I have seen and herd information about how media affects girls and woman’s body image but I have not ever seen this much real information about the affects of media on boys and men.  I was surprised by many of the statistics. The statistics were very much more extreme then I had imagined. The fact about how one in every four men will batter their partner in their lifetime was terrifying. These types of statistics really make me concerned about many of the children that I am in contact with in the shelter environment. Many of the children come from very violent and abusive backgrounds, I can see behaviors in the children that stem from this exposure to domestic violence. I think that the only way to use this information that was given in “Tough Guise “ without becoming destressed is to be proactive. I want to start incorporating some of these videos about how media negatively affects our boys and girls into our volunteer training.  We need to model peaceful and tolerant behaviors for the children.  We also need to facilitate non-aggressive ways to express emotions.  I think that the arts provide a great outlet for positive and negative emotions alike. I want to empower my students to take a stand against being disrespected or degraded. They need to know that it is important to be independent and self-reliant so that they do not get trapped in bad relationships. I want all the students to know that they are worthy of being treated fairly, and that they are worthy of being treated with respect.  I did some further research and I was able to find some good resources on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s web site.  I found an entire publication in PDF format about studies that have been done on youth violence and the best, scientifically proven ways to prevent youth violence.  It is a tough world that we live in but I can try to start making a change in small ways by asserting my beliefs about humans rights to respect. Also by modeling the therapeutic and healing powers of the arts.