Guyland and the Culture of Street Harassment

 Michael Kimmel’s 2008 book Guyland is a great manual for male feminists. It explores what he refers to as Guyland, the aggressive and toxic environment in which young men of my generation are growing up. It’s a culture influenced by misogynistic fraternities, sports, and conservative talk radio that constantly broadcasts this message: The women’s movement, immigrants, and rich liberals are undermining the American way of life — meaning white male privilege. In such an atmosphere, women are perceived as obstacles to be “won over” and degraded.


Kimmel explains that in a society where the women’s movement has made significant inroads, the traditional ways of “proving” masculinity have been discredited. They are devolving into infantile acts such as encouraging their friends to “score” and using offensive language. Kimmel sheds light on the possible attitudes that create these problems and others like street harassment. AAUW staffer Holly Kearl’s book Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming for Women offers a powerful charge to male allies to fight against such displays of masculinity and work to counterbalance these disturbing behaviors.

But the cultural norms under which Guyland operates are becoming so ubiquitous that they can be difficult to fight. Kimmel explains that many men are afraid to question the actions of their friends because it may lead to their exclusion. This fear of social isolation is one of the reasons street harassment and other acts of violence go unchallenged. Stop Street Harassment provides techniques for men to intervene in these situations and overcome fear and peer pressure.

Another important issue that Kimmel addresses is the gray area that men feel in their encounters with women. What men consider to be a friendly gesture may be interpreted as predatory from a woman’s perspective, and the line is often vague. The Stop Street Harassment website offers men guidelines on how to interact with women to make them feel safe and unthreatened in these situations.
When I participated in the inaugural International Anti-Street Harassment Day on March 20, I kept thinking about these issues as I realized that I was the only man in my volunteer group. The lack of male participation in challenging the attitudes that create street harassment is something that we have to address. We have the opportunity to be the first generation with widespread male involvement in these issues. Kimmel’s and Kearl’s books should be our warning shots.

This post was written by AAUW ally Sean Crosbie and was originally published on the Stop Street Harassment blog.

The blog was posted on AAUW Dialog on April 19, 2011 and Stop Street Harassment Blog on April 6, 2011.