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What are the links between mass shootings and masculinity? This XY collection brings together news commentaries on how individual men's perpetration of mass shootings is shaped by particular norms and behaviours associated with patriarchal masculinity. Items include commentary on incidents that took place in:
- Orlando, 2016;
- Las Vegas, June 2017;
- Florida, February 2018;
- Nova Scotia, April 2020
XY's collection "Guns, violence, and masculinity" complements this. It summarises research on the links between gun availability or ownership and gun violence, and it compiles research highlighting how gun violence is structured in powerful ways by traditional, patriarchal masculinities.
(a) News articles and commentaries
New pieces in 2022-2023:
- Breen, "Mass killers practice at home": How domestic violence and mass shootings are linked. CBS News, June 17 2023
- Barker, Gary. Can our young men be saved? After 18-year-olds murdered 31 people in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, we must ask the question. New York Daily News, May 29 2022
- Katz, Jackson, (2022). Mass Shooters Are Almost Always White Men. Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper, May 28 2022
- Okun, Rob. (2022). Mass Shootings - It’s the Masculinity, People. CounterPunch, May 23 2022
Older pieces:
- Ahn, Gun Violence and Toxic Masculinity: What Happened in Florida is No Anomaly (2018
- Amonett, We will never address gun violence if we don't address the root of the problem - masculinity (2018);
- Anonymous, The Trouble With Men (2007).
- Bensadoun, ‘Pandemic of violence’: Calls mount for recognition of misogyny in Nova Scotia shooting (2020);
- Bourgeois, Let's call the Nova Scotia mass shooting what it is: White male terrorism (2020);
- Bridges, Masculinity and Mass Shootings in the U.S 2015 (2015);
- Bridges, Tristan. The sociological explanation for why men in America turn to gun violence. QZ (2017);
- Chemaly, America's Mass Shooting Problem Is a Domestic Violence Problem (2017);
- Devega, The plague of angry white men: How racism gun culture and toxic masculinity are poisoning America (2015);
- Donegan, The American gun crisis? It’s largely a domestic violence crisis (2021);
- Goodman and Moynihan, Mass Shootings and Domestic Violence (2017);
- Hamblin, Toxic Masculinity and Murder (2016);
- Johnson, Allan. (2017). And Now Las Vegas - Manhood, Guns, and Violence. 10 June (2017);
- Katz, Jackson. (2011). Guns, mental illness and masculinity. Huffington Post, Jan 17 (2011);
- Khadaroo and Jonsson, Many school shooters, one common factor - masculinity (2015);
- Kimmel, Masculinity, mental illness and guns, Dec 19 (2012);
- Kimmel, Michael. (2011). A tale of two terrorists redux. Society Pages, 27 July (2011);
- McCulloch and Maher (2020). The intimate connection between mass shootings and violence against women, May 7 (2020);
- Miri. (2014). Masculinity Violence and Bandaid Solutions. Freethoughtblogs, May 24 (2014);
- Murphy, Meagan. (2012). But what about the men: On masculinity and mass shootings. Rabble.ca, 18 Dec. (2012);
- Okun, Rob. (2018). Why is no one talking about the gender of mass shooters? (2018);
- Okun, Rob. (2019). Are we ready now to put shooters’ gender at center of gun debate?, PeaceVoice, August 8 (2019);
- Paradkar, ‘Ultimate authority. Ultimate power.’ What the Nova Scotia mass shooting tells us about toxic masculinity, April 24 2020;
- Siddiquee, The Truth About The Men Who Riot And Kill (2016);
- Wade, Two violent men, two symptoms of the same sickness (2016);
- Walsh, The American Impulse to Equate Guns With Freedom and Masculinity With Violence Is Killing Us (2017)
- Nova Scotia mass murder shows the public threat of domestic violence, say experts, Canadian Press, April 26 (2020)
(b) Journal articles
- Farr, K. (2018). Adolescent rampage school shootings: Responses to failing masculinity performances by already-troubled boys. Gender Issues, 35(2), 73-97.
- Kennedy-Kollar, D., & Charles, C. (2013). Hegemonic masculinity and mass murderers in the United States. Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, 8(2).
- Vito, C., Admire, A., & Hughes, E. (2018). Masculinity, aggrieved entitlement, and violence: considering the Isla Vista mass shooting. NORMA, 13(2), 86-102.
Also see:
- This XY collection on "Guns, violence, and masculinity";
- Materials on the Toronto massacre in April 2018, in this collection on men's rights;
- This bibliography of academic scholarship on guns, men, and masculinities.