The gendered nature of violence

On August 20 the TV network, Amazon Prime Video aired a three-episode series called Angry Young Men, featuring the work of a Bollywood duo whose scripts made blockbusters in the 1970s. The films featured a hero or heroes who took on injustice, corruption, and inequality in the system.

In the 1970s, India faced high inflation due to the 1973 oil crisis and the cost of rising oil imports. The Bangladesh war, the subsequent refugee resettlement, and food shortages caused by droughts in parts of the country strained the country’s resources. The economic and social problems caused by inflation and allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her government caused political unrest across India - the Railway Strike, the Maoist Naxalite movement, the Bihar student agitations, the United Women's Anti-Price Rise Front in Maharashtra, and the Nav Nirman movement in Gujarat. The films of this period reflected this anger and violence, and the heroes were often vigilantes or men against the system.

The ‘angry young men’ of the 1970s Bollywood paved the way for future developments in cinema. While portraying notions of masculinity, stardom, and political discourse, the notions of femininity were women as objects of desire, helpless, dependent on men, conservative, and confined to stereotypical domestic roles. The female body was a tool for attracting male audiences, with item songs, dances, and elaborate costumes.

From the 1990s till now, with the opening up of the Indian economy and the arrival of satellite channels and the Internet, the coverage of violence has become endemic. Print, electronic, and social media are full of reports of crimes and violence. Many crimes are not reported and if they are, they quickly disappear from the headlines and people’s memories, other than the people who suffer from the violence. Women, religious minorities, and disadvantaged-caste groups have been discriminated against and suffered for decades.

According to the 2022 National Crime Research Bureau over 58,00,000 cognisable crimes were registered, a 4.5% decline from 2021. An overall increase in crimes and atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was noted. A total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were reported in 2022, a 4% increase from 2021.

Psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists studying violence suggest that the root causes of anger are inequality in societies, lack of law and order, unemployment, high levels of vulnerability, and fear. And anger leads to violence.

In January 2022, thousands of young job seekers set fire to an empty stationary railway coach in Gaya, Bihar. More than 12 million people had applied for 35,000 clerical jobs at Indian Railways, one of the world's largest employers. According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, more than 17 million Indians want to work but do not actively seek jobs because of the discouraging economic situation. More than half are women. About 90% of Indians work in the informal sector.

As the Indian economy grew, so did the elites, leaving behind the marginalised. Being left behind whilst others prosper generates resentment, violence, and conflict between the ‘have nots’ and those with money, power, and influence. Disenfranchised, frustrated, and angry communities experience stress and indulge in crime and violence in and outside their communities.

Research suggests that men and women express stress in their lives differently. Women often “act in” their stress, feeling sad and depressed. Men, on the other hand, often “act out” their stress, becoming irritable and angry. Women often internalise their pain and blame themselves for their problems. Men often externalise their pain and blame the women in their lives. Women too can be violent and contribute to the general culture of violence, but more men than women perpetrate violence and are also more likely to be the victims of violence.

Current research indicates that the reason people function in certain ways may have more to do with what’s going on with them neurologically than it was ever considered. And the male and female brains are also wired a bit differently.

Simon Baron-Cohen, professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge writes, “The female brain is hardwired for empathy. The male brain is hardwired for understanding and building systems.”

The presence or absence of hormones and neurotransmitters in one’s bloodstream determines one’s behaviour. Males produce a significantly greater amount of the hormone testosterone, which drives them to be more aggressive; it triples in males during puberty, explaining why adolescent boys tend more toward aggression at this time of their lives.

Testosterone levels are related to criminality and violence. James Dabbs, Ph.D, one of the world’s experts on testosterone points out that there is an indirect tie between testosterone and human criminality. Testosterone leads toward violence, and violence is often criminal. It also blocks the effect of the hormone oxytocin which under the right circumstances, regulates emotional responses and pro-social behaviours, including trust, empathy, gazing, positive memories, processing of bonding cues, and positive communication.

“The male has paid a heavy price for his masculine ‘privilege’ and power. He is out of touch with his emotions and his body. He is playing by the rules of the male game plan and without thinking is destroying himself - emotionally, psychologically, and physically,” writes bestselling author and clinical psychologist, Herb Goldberg.

James Gilligan, M.D. former director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard Medical School, after working with thousands of violent men says, “I have yet to see a serious act of violence that was not provoked by the experience of feeling shamed and humiliated, disrespected and ridiculed, and that did not represent the attempt to prevent or undo that ‘loss of face’ - no matter how severe the punishment, even if it includes death. In one survey, men and women were asked what they were afraid of most. Women responded that they were most afraid of being raped and murdered. Men responded that they were most afraid of being laughed at. We now know that these two fears are related.”

The studies on the neurological origins of violence suggest that we focus on prevention and not punishment, as is the current trend in India. More stringent laws and punishment are not deterring violence. The remedy may well lie in understanding the causes of anger and violence and promoting and practising conscious raising in homes, schools, colleges, communities, panchayats, and religious institutions, to make men and women feel loved and secure. Reducing inequality and poverty, and increasing employment is the role of the government. But side by side we all have a role to play in creating environments that allow people to feel secure and less angry. And less violent.

This article is authored by Anita Anand, communications and development specialist, New Delhi.