Is there a relationship between school shootings and masculinity?

What characteristics do school shooters share?

Researcher suggests schools should address adolescent masculinity issues to help prevent rampage shootings. Boys involved in school shootings often struggle to live up to what they perceive as their school's ideals surrounding masculinity. When socially shunned at school, they develop deep-set grudges against their classmates and teachers. The shooters become increasingly angry, depressed, and more violent in their gendered practice. A shooting rampage is their ultimate performance, says Kathryn Farr of Portland State University in the US. In a study published in Springer's journal Gender Issues, she investigated the characteristics shared by 31 school boys involved in 29 mass shootings at American schools between 1995 and 2015. "Many of the adolescent shooters had personal troubles that affected their ability to manage their social performances at school," explains Farr. "Moreover, the potential rampage of a boy with severe mental illness and rampage-related risk factors could be especially injurious." ... According to Farr, the shooters' gender performances at school were typically 'off', either not meeting or exaggerating the Adolescent Insider Masculinity imperatives. They saw the responses they received as undeserved injustices that denied them their masculine entitlements. Most used dramatic displays of masculine bravado to try and show that they were indeed tough and powerful. They, for instance, brought guns to school, or emphasized violent themes in their writings, drawings, and class presentations. Almost all had bragged about their rampage plans. Such behavior violates the moral boundaries of masculinity, and further damaged the boys' already low social status. (Source: Science Daily)

Back to Education / Culture