White Vigilantism and Masculine Fragility

• In Event: Critical Futures: Transforming Identity, Digital Space, and Disciplinary Power

Abstract

When Kyle Rittenhouse was found ‘not guilty’ in the fatal shootings of Black Lives Matter protestors, people rightly criticized the racial elements of his declared innocence. Both past and present such episodes have provided countless examples of whites committing extrajudicial killings; only to witness the seriousness of these illegal actions downplayed or justified as self-defense. In these and other cases, race clearly plays a role in the determination of who is a threat and who may adopt the role of vigilante with impunity. However, I argue that racism is not the only factor; policing gender and the fragility of masculinity also play central roles. As a result, cases such as these need to be analyzed with a larger lens that takes gendered interactions and motivations into account; specifically, how white men have portrayed themselves as the victims of a new supposedly politically correct, #MeToo era that purportedly privileges non-whites and women. In these acts of white vigilantism, there are no claims to protecting women as was once done by white lynch mobs. What these acts are intended to protect are male entitlement and privilege, including an attempt to control that which is seen as undermining masculinity. It is not surprising, then that, in this specific example, Rittenhouse was caught on video punching a teenage woman in the back of her head prior to the fatal shootings that led to his arrest. While claiming that his actions were undertaken to protect his community, he was in fact protecting the racist and gendered hierarchies by committing violence against those that challenged the existing order. Utilizing feminist theory and critical race theory, I examine the imbrication of gendered policing/violence and white privilege that operates in cases of white vigilantism, including the January 6th insurrection. I provide an analytical framework that assists in understanding and (hopefully) dismantling interlocking systems of power that enable white vigilantism and acts of violence in defense of masculinity. My theory regarding the fragility of masculinity has implications not only for white vigilantism, but also for recent violence committed by paternal rights activists and self-identified incels (i.e., involuntary celibates). In all of these cases, the intersection of racism, sexism and supposedly threatened masculinity must be rooted out in order to counter gendered and raced violence and actualize a more liberatory and equitable society.

Author

• Mary McThomas, University of California, Irvine