Moreover, Ong claims that human males suffer from a distinct male insecurity, which is not the same as the insecurity that girls and women have. In other words, the distinct male insecurity requires the formation of a distinctively masculine identity, because the distinct male insecurity grows out of the overpowering image of the feminine in the psyche and out of the fact that only women bear children -- men don't.
Furthermore, Ong also claims human males have to work out a distinctively masculine identity in the context of other males, not in the context of their mothers or sisters or lovers or wives. So male agonistic behavior give rise to rivalry and competitiveness -- usually involving other males as the real or imagined adversaries.
Historically, many cultures over the centuries devised male puberty rites to help young males at the age of puberty to work out a way to separate themselves psychologically from the overwhelming power of the feminine image in their psyches. Male puberty rites involved all-male cohorts in certain activities structured by older males, not by females. However, male puberty rites resulted at times in suicides. Suicides are the downside of male puberty rites. For this reason, I do not recommend any attempt to resurrect male puberty rites.
MEN'S VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
When we turn our attention to men's violence against women, we can extrapolate from Ong's claim and say that the men involved in violence against women probably do not have a strong and secure masculine identity. Let's consider three broad kinds of men's violence against women.
(1) Physical violence. Lacking a strong and secure masculine identity, certain men can feel threatened by women and respond violently.
(2) Rape of women unknown by the rapists. In many cases of sexual violence, it is hard to understand how the women made the rapists feel threatened. In such cases, the rapists most likely feel threatened by the powerful feminine image in their psyches.
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