Numerous theories have been floated about the contributing factors to the tragic massacre at UCSB last Friday night and the possible motivations of the shooter. Some blame the Men’s Rights Movement (MRM). Some ponder how Asperger’s and other social disorders lead to isolation and relational awkwardness. Others see it as a possible extension of our skewed cultural conceptions of the Good Life. Then there was the predictable #NotAllMen defense levied, this time in the form of #NotAllMRMers.
Yesterday, a new theory was floated when a professor linked the misogynistic mindset of the UCSB shooter to the “strict gender roles” found among Christian conservatives.
Devin Kuhn-Choi, Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies program and the Women’s & Gender Studies Department at California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, connects the pick-up artist (PUA) culture he was a part of to similar viewpoints of gender roles by conservative Christians.
In a piece for Religion Dispatches entitled Conservative Christianity’s “Come to Jesus” Moment in Wake of Elliot Rodger Shootings Kuhn-Choi writes,
Many commentators have discussed the “pick up artist” (PUA) culture in which Rodger’s ideology is based, but broader cultural forces shape the exaggerated ideas of gender roles that are the foundation of Rodger’s misguided notions of masculinity and entitlement—including most conservative Christian constructions of strict gender roles. Though they approach beliefs about masculinity from different perspectives, both PUA and contemporary portrayals of conservative Christian masculinity share some similar points.
So while the author acknowledges that the shooter was not directly driven by Christianity — “Rodger himself was not directly influenced by conservative Christianity” — she nevertheless indicts “conservative Christianity” as shaping “exaggerated ideas of gender roles” which were at “the foundation of Rodger’s misguided notions of masculinity and entitlement.”
It makes one wonder who’s the real culprit here.
Khun-Choi then proceeds to outline alleged similarities between the pick-up artist culture and conservative Christianity’s views on masculinity, women, sex and marriage.
“In both conservative Christianity and PUA movements, the man is in charge: the leader, the head of the household, the provider… The counterpart to the male leader is the submissive woman. The model of marriage that positions the husband as the head of the couple/family and the wife as the submissive ‘helper’ are not just gender roles defined in conservative branches of Christianity, it’s at the root of much of PUA ideology as well. That the movement refers to women as ‘targets’ or even ‘opponents’ might be enough to demonstrate that they don’t consider women as equal human beings.”
While Kuhn-Choi acknowledges there are differences between the worldview of the PUA and the conservative Christian,
“…both portray women as the ‘keepers’ of sex and men as uncontrollable sex machines, constructing strikingly similar images of masculinity.”
Despite the author’s attempt to dissociate the shooter’s actions and PUA culture from conservative Christianity, the correlation, at least in Kuhn-Choi’s thinking, seems inevitable.
“Of course, versions of Christianity that espouse essentialist notions of gender presumably do not intend for them to be taken to the point of Rodger’s extreme misogyny… Yet the insistence on strictly differentiated gender roles in both conservative Christian and PUA cultures can lead to inequality, a devaluing of women and, in an already patriarchal society, a definition of masculinity that isn’t just a nightmare for men, but a tragedy for all.”
I suppose it was inevitable that, amidst all the painful speculation, someone cuts to the chase and says what many of our cultural elites believe: “strictly differentiated gender roles” leads to “inequality, a devaluing of women and… a definition of masculinity that isn’t just a nightmare for men, but a tragedy for all.”
Which, if that’s the case, means that gender redefinition is one of the primary ways to stop misogyny and male violence. That and the slow dismantling of traditional conservative Christianity.
Unfortunately the shooter’s attitudes (though maybe much more dramatic and fueled by rage) aren’t unusual. My ex believed he was the big boss (yet didn’t want to be the provider) and that as the wife, I had to do whatever he said, cook, clean, blah blah blah. And while his attitudes didn’t lead to anyone being shot down in cold blood, it ended in our divorce.
I love the Lord and his son Jesus. I speak to him every day. I’ve read the Bible and find a lot of guidance in the pages but part of me wonders if too many men (and women) take Ephesians too literally. I mean, the Bible also speaks of slaves and how to treat them. It doesn’t say to let them go and let them live as free men. But most people would never agree that it’s acceptable to keep slaves. So maybe it’s time we re-evaluate the idea of women and start teaching our boys/men that we are NOT property, that we are more than just a uterus and vagina to pop out kids and use for pleasure at the man’s whim, we’re more than a cook and housekeeper. My ex made me feel so low and worthless when he told me to my face that he “expected me to take care of the household chores” 🙁 Between teaching and writing, I worked more hours than he did. It would have been so nice to come home to dinner cooked, the bathroom cleaned, the floor vacuumed. And it’s also time that women stop looking at men like a money factory. I’m sure men don’t like feeling like all they do is work their fingers to the bone so their woman can spend every dime. Men are more than someone that takes out the trash and works on the car. I just have a hard time believing that my loving Father was sitting up in heaven and looking down on me in my dark times just before the divorce and wishing I would just get back in line and take it. His heart was breaking just like mine was.
Thanks for commenting, Shay. In The Bogus ‘Bible Endorses Slavery’ Argument, I sought to show that the common objection to the Scriptural position on slavery is one of “misperception.” Rather, the literal reading of Scripture is the best argument against slavery. What I go on to suggest is that that argument is designed to do several things, one of which is “To make the Bible look archaic and in need of serious interpretative overhaul.” I believe you’re potentially falling into that here. In other words, because the Bible was wrong about slavery “maybe it’s time we re-evaluate the idea of women.” I don’t think teh Bible speaks wrongly about slavery or women.
Frankly, it’s a bit of a caricature to suggest that believers “start teaching our boys/men that we are NOT property, that we are more than just a uterus and vagina to pop out kids and use for pleasure at the man’s whim, we’re more than a cook and housekeeper. ” In the more rigid patriarchal sects I’d definitely “amen” that. The problem is that that position — “women are property” — is neither biblical nor the common evangelical position.
I also have a hard time conceiving that during your hard times God wanted you to “just get back in line and take it.” Those who interpret “wives submit to your husbands” to that end are assuredly in the wrong. But the opposite mistake, I believe, would be to see any reference to patriarchy, gender roles, or submission as outmoded and archaic.
“In both conservative Christianity and PUA movements, the man is in charge…”
In both kindergarten and California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo students are expected to keep their hands to themselves therefore, as any idiot can see, people who attend universities are the same as kindergarteners.
Of course in Christianity men are taught to love women and in PUA they are taught to hate women, so you’d think that the differences between Christianity and PUA would be obvious. But, no, this is a university professor speaking and we all know we can’t expect too much in the way of logical thinking from university professors.
Meanwhile Meriam Ibrahim just gave birth to her American baby in a Sudanese prison and she is now facing her hundred lashes and her hanging. All because she won’t renounce her woman-hating Christian faith. Lord forgive us.
There really are women suffering. Another woman was stoned to death in Pakistan: http://www.11alive.com/story/news/world/2014/05/27/pregnant-pakistani-woman-stoned-to-death/9628161/
Or how about the man in NY who beat his wife to death for feeding him lentils? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/10850042/New-York-man-beats-wife-to-death-for-serving-him-lentils.html
I don’t think it’s the Christians who are abusing women.
What bothers me about this, aside from taking a tragedy and trivializing it with a religious-politico message, is that gender roles are determined by both biology and culture. The Bible doesn’t make lists of gender roles; it rather takes what is and then answers, “How then shall we live?” The Bible provides a reason for the ruptured relations between male and female (see: Adam and Eve’s sin and Eve’s curse), and then provides a corrective through male self-sacrifice and female submission. Ultimately, human beings are insane–yeah, all of us. The current insanity was created, not by traditional gender roles, but by postmodern meaninglessness. Nothing matters. But I wouldn’t necessarily project that insanity on a young man who goes on a killing spree. Maybe it’s connected, and maybe it’s not.
Great comment, Jill, to Mike’s excellent article.
It’s hard for me to read someone rant about the misogyny of that sad, sinful murderer when most of his victims were men.
The only way to stop this madness is if the old self is replaced by the new through Jesus Christ.
Becky
That professor is wrong. The shooter came from a liberal family in Hollywood.