Sociologist Michael Kimmel equates white supremacy directly with masculinity.
In a recent interview he said, “These guys believe something has been taken from them that they were entitled to, that they deserved, and it was given to people who don’t deserve it, like immigrants and gay people and women.”
Much like how new studies show that men in powerful positions are more prone to sexual abuse in order to reaffirm their dominance over women due to their own lack of personal validity, the same, according to Kimmel, holds true for white supremacists.
In his writing, “Healing from Hate,” Kimmel claims that the white nationalists are viewing what they do as taking back what’s theirs or “the restoration of their masculinity.” They believe minorities such as women, Blacks and gays have penetrated their long-standing power. Kimmel draws parallel from the longing to feel emasculated to a white man’s sense of entitlement. To them they are just taking back what is rightfully theirs.
Men still hold on to the mid-20th century belief that the man controls their family’s own destiny. “I will work hard, I will pay my taxes, I will be a good citizen, and in return for that, I — the man, the breadwinner — I alone should be able to support my family and buy a house,” Kimmel said in an interview with Mother Jones.
The white man believes that the bargain they have made should still be in effect. It is a bargain that if the man gets up and punches in early and leaves late he will provide for his family, but in this new world where big companies are swooping in and putting the everyday mom and pop store out of business, men feel they are obsolete.
Throw in women and minorities getting the promotion that used to be theirs and they feel they’re on an island all alone until people who look like them and have the same frustration as them offer an answer. It is the brotherhood. It is the validation of their masculinity. The feeling of community is more of a draw to the group than any racism or bigoted ideology.
How do you get one out of this thinking According to Kimmel you reinforce the community that they already belong to. “I’m gonna help him by saying, you have a place to land, you have a place to stand, you have family, you have kids, you have a partner, you have a job. You become a stakeholder in the system rather than an outsider in opposition to it.”
