Author: Marisol Ortiz Acosta (Bogotá, Colombia)
“(…) “The training must be so hard that the war feels like a rest” that says everything! You cannot cry. The songs are important to encourage things, for example: I want to bathe in a pool, full, full of blood, subversive blood or am I the black vampire, I never had a mother, I will never have her, the last one I had, last night I stung her. Horrible things one says, how could I sing that? you must sing it, that is part of manhood. You are a man and if you must kill your mother, then you kill her (…) I became a very strong, very disheartened” AUC ex-combatant, Colombia[i]
Introduction
Most combatants in conflicts are men, but that does not mean that men are naturally violent. Gender is a social construction, and a particular notion of masculinity can play a role in driving and maintaining armed conflicts, especially in profoundly divided societies. Therefore, peacebuilding efforts with a gender perspective should critically examine the roles and experiences of boys and men during war and promote peaceful masculinities[ii] that favour non-violence, reconciliation, and gender equality. Uttermost, the peaceful masculinities approach should be applied in post-conflict settings and as a preventive measure in non-conflict affected countries. There are already several examples of NGOs and local actors' programs in various countries that engage boys and men to promote gender equality and non-violence with demonstrable positive impacts that organizations and institutions could apply in other contexts.
This essay will briefly examine the construction of masculinities during the protracted conflict of Colombia and at hand of some programming approaches for peaceful masculinities in the country and elsewhere, it will identify successful practical strategies for gender-oriented peacebuilding that could be crucial given the 2016 Peace Agreement. This essay does not identify patriarchal masculinities as the sole cause of conflict. Militarized masculinities result from various factors (rooted in structural violence) such as economic inequalities, racism, absence of the State, the lack of provision of certain rights, among others[iii]. In other words, the analysis of the role of masculinities should be intersectional and should consider other context-specific conflict drivers. In the case of Colombia, the militarized masculinities account not only to combatants but to the entire society, and it is part of the beliefs and values that continue reproducing violence and hindering peace in the country.
Militarized masculinities[iv] in Colombia
Armed conflict is frequently thought of as a masculine exercise (Rincón-Flórez, 2018; Saferworld, 2014), and indeed, war promotes characteristics such as rudeness, strength, insensitivity and invulnerability (Avellaneda, 2020) in a process called hypermasculinization of the combatant (Cortés, 2014; Theidon, 2009). “In South Sudan and Somalia, militarized notions of masculinity which valorized domination and violence have motivated men to participate in violence and women to support them or pressure them to do so. In Kosovo, political and military actors have valorized violent masculinities in order to recruit combatants and build support for war. In Uganda, studies have documented the use of violence to attain other symbols of manhood, such as wealth or access to women” (Saferworld, 2014).
The cultural reproduction of these characteristics starts in childhood "with expressions such as «children do not cry, do not be a girl, show your manhood» and with toys and cartoons about superheroes and battles" (Cardona, 2019). For the case of Colombia, some additional factors that predispose rural[v] children and youth to become part of the conflict, are the cohabitation with armed groups, the exemplary figure of the combatant, war games during childhood, and domestic abuse (Muñoz-Onofre, 2011). In deep divided societies like Colombia, even the first memories of boys and men related to masculinity have to do with the victimization of male relatives, the army conscription, or the desire/compulsion to join an irregular army (Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation, 2020). The two latter are sometimes the only viable alternatives for many young men in rural and impoverished areas who find in a militarized masculinity a form of prestige that provides access to certain goods, services, and privileges that they would not otherwise achieve (Theidon, 2009).
Weapons and uniforms become a symbol of respect. "First, they arm your head, and then they arm your hands (…) without weapons they (politicians) would not take much care of us and that is what happened. On the day of arms surrender, we understood that things were going to be very different (…) what made you look different was that rifle and that uniform"[vi]. Furthermore, being part of an army is perceived to increase attractiveness and virility, a perception often endorsed by women (Rivera & Escobar, 2018; Helms, 2010; Theidon, 2009). "You don't have to make so much effort to hang out with them, because for them it was a privilege to be the girlfriend of a member of the self-defense groups (...) without exaggerating I had about 200 women"[vii]. he promotion of this type of masculinity is also related to drug trafficking and the so-called narco-culture. "(…) my uncle wanted me to be in the mafia (…) He wanted me to adopt that path, to join the business, also because he did not have sons. I had many privileges for being the only man in the family"[viii].
Militarized masculinities are promoted and institutionalized in armies, in which the body becomes an object and target of power: it is shaped, manipulated, educated, and subjected to the purpose of multiplying its strength strategically (Muñoz-Onofre, 2011). This indoctrination of the body, behaviour and emotions radicalizes power relations based on gender against female or feminized bodies. Sexual violence, according to Elizabeth Wood (2016), becomes a common practice that reaffirms power, domination, and virility. Despite that, militarized masculinities are usual in heroic and patriotic discourses (Kvinna till Kvinna, 2014) as a justification to continue, develop and escalate the war against the enemy. These notions deepen a binary conception of the world as friend-enemy, heroes-villains, good-bad, typical of the dominant patriarchal paradigm and the beliefs and values of societies immersed in prolonged conflicts whose reproduction prevents reconciliation and peace (Bar-Tal, 2007). The massive promotion of heroes as a state strategy assigns a gender to security (Theidon, 2009) and generates the militarization of the entire society (Connell, 2003) replicated in the family, the school, the media, and other cultural institutions. “(…) militarized masculinities embody an omnipotent and omnipresent power that guarantees national security and that it must not only be consented but unconditionally supported” (Muñoz-Onofre, 2011).
¿Masculinities in transition?
The relationship between masculinity, conflict and peacebuilding is essential because, as stated by Raewyn Connell, “only by understanding the patterns and stereotypes created in a society is it possible to “disarticulate” them and transform them from their roots” (Universidad del Norte, 2018). Thus, although theoretically incipient, the peaceful masculinities approach[ix], contributes from the practice to peacebuilding and violence prevention. Programs like the Young Men’s Initiative in the Balkans, the Women Peacemakers Program – overcoming Violence: Exploring Masculinities, Violence and Peacebuilding and the Nicaraguan Masculinities Network for Gender Equality (REDMAS) count for some of the numerous initiatives and programs applied by local organizations and NGOs in many contexts. Saferworld (2014, ii) studied 19 of these initiatives found that “group education and community outreach strategies have shown evidence of changes in attitudes and behaviour among men and boys, but that strategies which combine the two approaches have been found to have the most impact”.
In Colombia, various organizations already use the peaceful masculinities approach[x] nd have deployed diverse practices and methodologies to change boys and men's subjectivities towards more positive masculinity. This essay summarizes the main actions of two of these organizations, namely the Collective of Men and Masculinities and Manes a la Obra (MAO). Their activities could be grouped into six categories: i.) artistic processes such as performance and theatre that aim to question the hegemonic relations of power and to produce new subjectivities; ii) participant formation that seeks women and men to reflect from their everyday lives about gender relations and transform reality from an emotional, affective and ritual perspective; iii) deep ecology that promotes eco-masculinities and a new way to interact with nature from care and not from domination; iv) knowledge production through dialogues (widespread knowledge), workshops, research, systematization of experiences and alliances with universities; v) marches and local activism with campaigns such as "we do not give birth to war" and "Maleness dehumanize". These actions aim to discourage hegemonic masculinities and patriarchy in the public space; and vi) promotion and accompaniment of other initiatives through consultancies, networking and the promotion of new organizations dealing with peaceful masculinities.
These activities have proven results in changing behaviours and attitudes of boys and men in the short term (García 2015, Saferworld, 2014). Nonetheless, much of these results are self-reported by the participants who may have incentives to give positive feedback although they feel otherwise. At the same time, there is a lack of studies and data to assess whether the positive outcomes are sustainable in the long term. In any case, academics and international peacebuilders should consider the current knowledge about peaceful masculinities attained by local practitioners as tailor-made solutions for specific conflict settings. Bridging the gaps between practise and theory and local and international expertise contributes to building more effective and sustainable peacebuilding (Stanton & Kelly, 2015).
The implementation of the peaceful masculinities approach has just recently scaled up to accomplish changes at the national level by influencing policymaking (Saferworld, 2014). This development is crucial to address structural and behavioural change through education, public policy, media, law, military institutions, and others that reproduce patriarchal norms, beliefs, and values that support the continuation of conflict (Bar-Tal, 2007). In Colombia, the lack of security sector reform (SSR) in the 2016 Peace Agreement represents a boundary to change the conditions within the military forces that replicate a militarized masculinity that runs counter the measures taken to overcome conflict. This issue reflects in recent abuse of authority and military treatment of social protest and the opposition.
The peaceful masculinities approach is also helpful in the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR), although the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia did not contemplate it. In addition to surrendering their weapons and returning to civilian life, demobilised men and women face challenges in terms of their identity and their reincorporation to everyday family and social relations. Ex-combatants do not immediately demobilise from "being a warrior" since it is anchored in their personality, stories, and body (Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation, 2020). That is why it is necessary to "disarm" the symbolic and cultural representations around ex-combatants militarised masculinity (Theidon, 2009).
Implementing the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia, which has a gender perspective, has not openly considered boys and men's attitudes, values, and behaviours within the society and the conflict as part of the necessary changes to achieve sustainable peace. "The focus on masculinities in peacebuilding must not divert political will or resources away from work on women, peace and security, but rather be considered an additional, complementary stream of work, that when undertaken can deepen and strengthen peacebuilding processes" (Saferworld, 2014). Nonetheless, the agreement also constitutes an opportunity to demilitarise society through State presence in the territories (not limited to the army), offering different life options, particularly young people. This situation would tackle the image of the young men from popular sectors as dangerous and prone to violence and provides the conditions for this population to contribute to peace (UN Resolution 2250, 2015).
Conclusion
To understand, address and prevent gender-based violence and build peace in divided societies, it is necessary to deconstruct the militarized masculinities that facilitate the development of war and atrocities (Theidon, 2009). A cultural change of this magnitude faces the opposition of fundamentalist sectors (Segato, 2016) and the lack of resources and public policy attention. Nonetheless, this topic is slowly catching the attention of political leaders, not only in conflict settings, as the militarized masculinities can explain police force abuse, the recruitment of young men in terrorists’ groups and the radicalization of the male population in certain circumstances. These latter topics remind us that peacebuilding efforts may be applied more generally to prevent uprising conflicts than merely to mitigate existing armed conflicts.
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Notes
[i] Story "El Chayanne", a former AUC combatant who tells about the construction of masculinity in this armed group and the transition to civilian life within the framework of the project "Masculinities, stories of former combatants" developed by Central University, Colombia (Neira-Cruz, 2019).
[ii] Peaceful masculinities are also called alternative, new, non-hegemonic, responsible, and libertarian masculinities.
[iii] Intersectionality is based in the idea that a person’s marginalized identities interact and cannot be understood in isolation (Crenshaw, 1989).
[iv] "Militarized notions of masculinity which valorized domination and violence can motivate men to participate in violence and women to support them or pressure them to do so; allow political and military actors to deliberately promote violent masculinities in order to recruit combatants and build support for war; allow, even where dominant conceptions of masculinity do not idealize it, violence to be seen as an acceptable means of attaining other symbols of manhood, such as wealth or access to women; render men who feel unable to live up to societal expectations of masculinity more susceptible to recruitment into armed groups as well as more likely to commit violence in the home” (Saferworld, 2014: 2).
[v] This focus on rurality is due to a greater proximity of this population to direct violence (Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation, 2020), although the identified practices could be extended to urban settings.
[vi] Story "Our weapon will be the word", a former FARC combatant who recounts the relevance of the process of political training before military training and the handling of weapons, as well as the experience of arms surrender in the peace process. Project "Masculinities, stories of ex-combatants" developed by the Central University, Colombia (Neira-Cruz, 2019.
[vii] Story "La 30 y la 30-30", a former AUC combatant recounts his relationships with women, both in the armed group and in the transition to civilian life within the framework of the project "Masculinities, stories of former combatants” Developed by the Central University (Neira-Cruz, 2019).
[viii] Story "The rebellious children", a former FARC combatant tells his story about the construction of masculinity in this armed group and the transition to civil life within the framework of the project "Masculinities, stories of former combatants" developed by the Central University (Neira-Cruz, 2019).
[ix] “The peaceful masculinities approach shifts the narrative from the idea of men as inevitable perpetrators of violence to an understanding that masculinities are socially constructed and can be shaped around peace (…) Peaceful masculinities questions men’s acceptance of violence as part of their masculinity and seeks to disassociate violence from understandings of manhood or masculinity” (United States Institute of Peace, 2018).
[x] Among them are the Collective of Men and Masculinities, Masculinidades Sentipensantes, Colectivo Nuevas Identidades Masculinas, Manes a la Obra (MAO), Caballito de Mar, the Circle of Masculinities of REDAJIC, Group of New Male Identities of Southwest Antioquia, the Group of Men of Casitas Bíblicas, the Collective (youth) Sin Fronteras, the TransMasculinities Group, the Caribbean Masculinities Team, the Circle of Men and Open Workshop, Men in March, Affective Machos and the Masculinities Group of the Combos Educational Corporation. Additionally, there are some other networks such as The Colombian Network of Masculinities for Gender Equity, the Colombian Network of Non-Hegemonic Masculinities, and the National Table of Co-Responsible Non-Violent Masculinities.
