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Iâm beyond fed up that the gender of the murderers is still mostly under the radar in confronting Americaâs mass shootings crisis. In Uvalde, Texas, just as in Buffalo, N.Y., the shooters were both 18 year-old males. As of this writing, the motive in the Uvalde rampage hasnât been determined; in Buffalo, the racism and white supremacy were explicit. In either case, we ignore the shootersâ gender at our peril.
           Yes, letâs tighten restrictions on poisonous hate speech on social media, and itâs imperative we conduct threat assessment evaluations. Itâs also urgent that we enact gun control regulations. We must also deconstruct racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, misogynist, white supremacist manifestos. But if we do all thatâand continue to minimize or ignore how these killers were socialized as boys and menâmass shootings will continue to plague us.
We have to start in preschool, carefully attending to how boys are socialized. We must cultivate their emotional intelligence. Who would deny the value of educating boys to examine their inner lives; to talk about their feelings?
Who in Congress is going to introduce legislation calling on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct a nationwide study on how we socialize boys? Who is going to push for a comprehensive, multiyear pilot program with preschool boys in Head Start? The data amassed will help not only reshape our understanding of boys and men, but also could ultimately transform masculinity.
The shootersâ gender has been woefully underrepresented in the national conversation about mass shootings. But itâs not for lack of effort. Consider this small sampling:
â  August 9, 2019: [In] the killing sprees in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, OhioâŠÂ  the media, politicians and pundits rarely cite the most significant common denominator of virtually every mass murder in the USâthe shooterâs gender⊠a message Iâve been repeating since Columbine and before Tree of Life, Thousand Oaks, Parkland, Sutherland Springs and Las Vegas; even before Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook and Aurora.  âGender Belongs at Center of the Gun Debateâ,  Ms. magazine.
â  May 23, 2018: Heart contracts; numbness and tears collide. Ten dead, 13 wounded; this time Santa Fe, Texas⊠If weâre ever to end the blood baths⊠highlighting the shootersâ gender is essential to gain insights to prevent future tragedies. Virtually every murderer is male, usually white. âLetâs Talk About the Obvious: Most Mass Shooter are Maleâ Dallas Morning News.
â  October 5, 2017: Again. Worse than ever. A horrifying mass murder by a lone killer. This time in Las Vegas⊠A clue stares us right in the face to prevent this madness and mayhem: The race and gender of the shooter. White and male. Again⊠letâs organize⊠challenge men to chart a new course in the gun violence debate⊠[A]ccelerate the transformation of our ideas about masculinity and manhoodâincluding, especially, how we raise boys. âNeeded: A âMen Against Gun Violenceâ Campaignâ, Womenâs eNews.
â  June 16, 2016: The massacre at the Pulse nightclub was carried out as an act of rage..by a man. Until or unless we make the murdererâs gender central⊠to not just this story, but of the larger effort to prevent mass shootingsâŠwe wonât succeed in preventing such horrors in the future. âWhy is the Orlando Murdererâs Gender Not Central to the Story?â â CounterPunch.
â  October 9, 2015: Again. This time a community college in Roseburg, OregonâŠthis time, nine people murdered! How many more lonely, alienated, disconnected, (usually) white males perpetrating murder and then suicide need we witness before admitting the irrefutable fact that the shooters are all male?  âAfter the Oregon Shootings: A Campaign to Raise Healthy Sons,â Ms. magazine.
â  December 16, 2013: As we arrive at the gut-wrenching first anniversary of Newtown, I teeter back and forth between sadness and anger⊠was it a man or a woman who killed innocent people at the Washington Navy Shipyard, the Boston Marathon, Santa Monica College, homes in Hialeah, Fla., Manchester, Ill., and Fernley, Nevada; a barbershop in New Yorkâs Mohawk Valley; and Los Angeles International Airport? Get it? âMasculinity Question Still Missing Post Newtownâ, Truthout.
The day after Adam Lanza murdered his mother, six staff and 20 six and seven year-olds at Sandy Hook in 2012, women launched âMoms Demand Action for Gun Sense.â Just one day after! How many more âdays afterâ another mass shooting must we wait to launch âDads Demand Action to Raise Healthy Boys?â
The young men who slaughtered children in Uvalde, and African Americans in Buffalo, were raised in a society ill-equipped to prevent them from being infected with a virulent strain of TGV, tough guy virus. Any vaccine being developed to treat it must include healthy male antibodies if weâre ever to reach herd immunity and prevent mass shootings. And, in order to create those antibodies, the CDC must be authorized to lead a national campaign to reinvent manhood, beginning with boys.Â
Rob Okun, syndicated by Peace Voice, is editor of Voice Male, a national magazine chronicling the transformation of masculinity.Â
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