Men's violence and environmental destruction: what are the connections?
Human destruction of the environment is rarely considered in relation to violence. However, given the avoidable harm this involves for different life forms – including other humans – I argue that this is a vital way to understand it. Environmental harm ranges from what Galtung conceptualises as dire...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
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2025
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| In: |
Interconnecting the violences of men
Year: 2025, Pages: 218-230 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Human destruction of the environment is rarely considered in relation to violence. However, given the avoidable harm this involves for different life forms – including other humans – I argue that this is a vital way to understand it. Environmental harm ranges from what Galtung conceptualises as direct violence (e.g. chopping down trees), to structural violence (e.g. burning fossil fuels whilst conscious of the climatic consequences), to cultural violence (e.g. viewing humans as above nature and entitled to exploit it limitlessly for our own ends). It is also important to consider the connections between environmental harm and other forms of violence – and how these are gendered. Most violence of different forms in society is enacted by men. Whilst it is often harder to pinpoint specific “perpetrators” of environmental violence, the same is often true here. It is predominantly men working in extractive industries, in charge of polluting companies, and making decisions as policymakers to enable crimes against nature. Environmental destruction is not solely driven by industrial capitalism; it is shaped by masculinist logics and patriarchal power relations, which legitimise boundless human exploitation and domination of the natural world. I therefore contend that it should be considered a form of men’s violence. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 228-230 |
| ISBN: | 9781032540825 |
