Lecture Flash #12 : Le coût de la virilité (litt. The cost of virility) by Lucile Peytavin
Very light. After a very long introduction that goes off in all directions (why talk about prehistory at such length, apart from filling up pages?) and sometimes lacks seriousness (she sometimes seems to discover things that have been studied for a long time, and doesn't always source everything), the calculation part is interesting although sometimes very wobbly (but that was to be expected), and... that's it. Once you've « calculated » the figure of 95.2 billion euros a year, what do you do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. And I'll pass over the total absence of intersectionality, the ableism of certain passages, and the use of the term « transexuals » in 2023. At least I've got some figures from it that I could use again.
Edit: the more I think about it, the more I have problems with this book. I completely agree with Léo's video, it explains what's wrong with Le coût de la virilité:
I took notes as I read, as I try to do with all essays, so here they are, along with the chaptering of the book, which I always find interesting and very revealing in essays. Those are notes I took while I was reading, without any distance or reflexion ; I do not agree with the author's approach, with her interpretations or conclusions, so those notes should be treated cautiously. They are meant to show the content of this book, not to be used in an argument.
Please note that I translated all quotes, you can find the original versions in the french version of this article.
Introduction
Omnipresent male violence at a high cost to society
« In France, men are responsible for the majority of antisocial behaviour: They account for 83% of the 2 million people convicted of criminal offences annually, 90% of those sentenced by the courts, 86% of murder suspects, 99% of rapists, 84% of alleged perpetrators of fatal road accidents, 92% of pupils punished for acts of violence against property and persons at school, 95% of suspects in violent robberies with weapons, and last but not least... 96.3% of the prison population! When it comes to health, they are not to be outdone, since their avoidable mortality rate is 3.3 times higher than that of women. »
This over-representation is a blind spot.
« In total, I estimate that manly behaviour costs the French economy €95.2 billion a year. »
Yet this reality is ignored
Why?
- image of men violents by « nature »
- male behaviour = universal norm
Violence committed by women is being reacted to and condemned more harshly, and is the subject of more studies. It is shocking because it is so rare and is considered to be « unnatural ».
I. The end of myths
1. Women and men: what are the differences?
Cultural construction of gender difference => women confined to the home, care, gentleness vs. men ‘heads of family’, war, work.
2. Cave times
False image of the Palaeolithic (man = hunting / woman = home) used to justify inequalities today still.
Masculine/feminine and human beings, the fruit of a long evolution
The definition of sex/gender evolves over time, and its biological reality for humans still raises questions (e.g. the question of intersex people).
The Palaeolithic: a huge bias
The view of the sexual division of labour in the Palaeolithic/Neolithic era dates back to the end of the 19th century. Man, on the contrary, rises above his animal condition.
Persistent clichés => misinterpretation of archaeological finds.
Hunting, a shared and minor activity
hunting =~1/3 of the food.
The invention of inequality
In the Palaeolithic period, women had just as much influence as men.
This changed in the Neolithic period, with sedentarisation => a new division of roles in work: a clearer division between men and women, but also between public space and domestic space.
Appearance of the notion of virility, and the beginning of male domination.
Deprivation and undernourishment for women, to the point of transforming their skeleton. Sexual dimorphism is increasingly marked between individuals.
=> this is also due to men choosing more slender partners.
=> consequences for maternal mortality.
3. A pseudo-evidence called testosterone
Testosterone = argument used to justify the « natural » aggressiveness of men.
Women also produce it (but 8 to 10 times less than men).
No study to date establishing a causal link between testosterone and aggression.
The image of the « alpha male » as dominant in his group has been called into question since the 70s.
4. The role of the brain
All the bullshit from John Gray's Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (1992), such as women multitask but can't read a road map, men have natural authority and are good at maths, etc.
Women = emotions, men = rationality.
In 1861, the neurologist Paul Broca weighed around 20 brains and found that women's brains weighed ~150g less => they are less intelligent. 🥲
« What explains this heterogeneity is cerebral plasticity. When babies are born, only 10% of their cerebral connections are made. The remaining 90% will be shaped by what they learn »
II. The educational roots of violence
5. Inegalitarian education
Questioning the education someone gives their children = questioning them.
They think they are educating girls and boys in the same way => we see that they are not. Gendered education is pervasive. From birth and the first feed. => constraint at a very early age for girls vs. freedom for boys.
« The apogee of respect for gendered codes occurs from the age of 4: having not acquired the notion of gender constancy, ’children then behave in an ultra-stereotyped “real boy” and “real girl” way, rejecting everything that is supposed to belong to the opposite sex and not hesitating to call to order those who break the rule (‘You're not allowed to play with dolls, you're not a girl!’). Their attitude then softens around the age of 7, before becoming rigid again in adolescence »
6. You're not born a violent man, you become one
Gender assigned at birth => socialisation.
For boys, this can be summed up as virility. There is no equivalent for girls.
Acculturation to violence for little boys.
« Virility is ’a kind of ideal, the sum of representations linked to the idea of performance (economic, social, sexual and physical)‘, and thereby establishes the superiority of the masculine over the feminine. »
Childhood and the role of parents
« These patterns make boys insensitive, cut off from their own emotions and those of others. »
Repression of feelings, sensitivity and empathy. Little boys are not taught to express their emotions.
Emphasis on strength, physicality (speed, resistance to pain, etc.) and intelligence. Exploration, surpassing oneself, ambition, courage, etc.
« Ultimately, by cutting their little boy off from his emotions, sensitivity and empathy, and by encouraging him to take risks and be strong - whether consciously or unconsciously - parents are preparing and encouraging his future deviant behaviour. »
=> creation of a breeding ground for future violence.
« The continuum with their future behaviour is not perceived or even ignored. »
Toys
Extremely stereotyped.
If a child tries to play with a game that's ‘not their style’, they're stopped. Especially boys. Often by their fathers. Sometimes for fear of homosexuality.
Most boys play violent games and/or weapons. We're no longer preparing children to become soldiers, so why?
« Games, through the values they transmit, teach little boys to be strong, to dominate and to take power over the beings and things around them »
Adolescence and the group
Importance of the group: initiation into virility by being boisterous, vulgar and rebellious.
Rites of virility with aggressive behaviour ranging from insults to fights, sometimes even murder.
Risk-taking.
Teenage boys less supervised than teenage girls. Occupation of public space from preadolescence.
Culture
Children's stories reinforce gender stereotypes.
« In the cinema, men play 70% of the main roles; in 90% of cases, they do the punching, and in 90% of scenes involving a vehicle, they do the driving »
Male characters are 5 times more violent than female characters in superhero films.
Why is it acceptable to give children weapons as toys, to kill people, even symbolically? cf. the child soldiers who still exist, or the 30,000 deaths by firearms in the US every year.
School
Boys commit the vast majority of violent acts at school, and are punished and expelled more than girls.
They take up most of the playground, and girls are threatened in the little space they have left (balloon shots, insults).
They talk more in class (they occupy 2/3 of the sound space).
Systemic violence against the « weak » (small, shy, fat, gay, good pupils, girls, etc.)
« The hierarchical comparison with the Other is central to the construction of virility [...] No supremacy without an inferior to be despised, even humiliated. This is why the traditional model of masculinity - a model of exclusion and segregation - can only flourish by fostering resentment of the oppressed and fierce competition, even hatred, between men. »
Teachers play their part by being more permissive with boys, listening to them more, encouraging them to take up sport, and so on.
7. Women and men, all victims!
The vast majority of perpetrators of violence are men, but the victims are both men and women, albeit in different ways.
Violence against women: endemic violence
In 2019, 146 women were killed by their spouse or ex-spouse, compared with 27 men.
Women = 88% of victims of domestic violence and 86% of victims of sexual violence.
« A very recent survey of 100,000 people, 96% of them women, reports that 9 out of 10 women have been pressured by a third party to have sex; 67% of them have been victims of rape or sexual assault, 65% of them on several occasions. More than 8 out of 10 women said they had been subjected to psychological, physical or sexual violence during heterosexual intercourse; 1 in 6 women did not consent to their first sexual encounter, and in 36.5% of cases they were under the age of 15 »
=> A majority of men have committed sexual violence at least once in their lives, whether consciously or not (due to acculturation).
Images throughout childhood of men made to conquer and women who are docile and must be conquered => concrete consequences in adulthood.
Correcting a little boy who has a "feminine" attitude => the feminine is despicable.
Romanticisation of any relationship between 2 children by talking about boyfriend and girlfriend and saying that they're going to ‘get married when they grow up’ => idea that boys and girls can't be anything other than lovers, no friendship possible + idea that boys' role is to seduce at all costs.
Lack of sex education + access to porn at a very young age => carnage. Validation of the relationship of domination for boys + lower self-esteem for girls.
Myth of men's ‘natural needs’. False.
Men's sexuality valued vs. women's bodies sexualised.
Women's sexuality taboo + double injunction to be desirable and ‘respectable’ at the same time.
Incels => methodical, organised men who carry out attacks.
The trap of virile masculinity
Men who do not conform to the criteria of masculinity are rejected by their peers. This is particularly true in adolescence.
The pressure continues into adulthood (professional success, sexual performance, role as "head of the family") => 3 to 4 times more suicides than women (even more for gay or trans men).
Putting oneself at risk, whether by taking risks or by not using preventive health care.
« Virility benefits men by ensuring their domination, but destroys them in the process. »
8. Risky behaviour
« In OECD countries, under-14 boys are 70% more likely than girls to die in an accident. »
More dangerous activities, but also, within the same activities, more risk-taking. Boys see themselves as less vulnerable and more in control of the situation.
Martial vocabulary in sport, injunction to overcome pain, to defeat the opponent whatever the cost.
« These sporting practices reinforce hegemonic masculinity and transmit viril values to all participants, girls included. »
Men's sports = 75% of government funding for youth leisure activities. Funding is also provided for skate parks, football fields and weight training equipment in public spaces. => This reinforces the image of a public space only for men.
Extreme sports and risk-taking staged for social networks => mostly men.
=> Breaking the law to prove one's virility: substance abuse, driving offences, risky sexual behaviour.
« Breaking the law is also a way of proving your virility: by showing that you are stronger than the 'system' or that you remain open to the system's sanctions. This resistance is built up from childhood, since boys are less likely than girls to conform to the expectations and demands of their parents or any other authority figure »
9. You're not born a peaceful woman, you become one
Girls' education: emotional management, body control, altruistic behaviour.
Lack of self-confidence: from the age of 6, girls see themselves as less intelligent than boys, even though they perform better at school.
Pathological relationship with the body:
- Women = 90% of people with anorexia.
- 83% of teenage girls want to lose weight.
Despite the shortcomings, girls' education better prepares them to live in society. In particular through empathy, compassion and interpersonal skills. (imitation games + reading)
« Finally, during their activities, particularly outdoors, girls are better informed of the dangers they run the risk of, which makes them more diligent, concentrated and attentive. They are also encouraged to be obedient and docile, which leads them to be more concerned about sharing, respecting and disseminating social rules »
« This education enables them to acquire better self-awareness or self-evaluation (the ability to understand one's emotions and recognise their impact), self-control or self-regulation (the ability to control one's emotions and impulses and adapt to changing situations), social awareness or empathy (the ability to detect, understand and respond to the emotions of others while understanding social networks), and relationship management or social communication skills (the ability to inspire and influence others while promoting their development and managing conflict). »
III. The cost of virility
10. Virility, the primary cause of delinquency and crime
Cost of masculinity = scale of antisocial male behaviour x resources deployed by the State + human cost linked to the suffering of victims
A lot of factors are taken into account (social background, age, educative background, etc.), but the most important one is always overlooked: gender (and the gendered education that comes with it).
11. Methodology
A double difficulty
Gendered difference in public spending on prevention, sentencing and compensation.
Difficulty in taking everything into account + difficulty in obtaining gendered statistics.
Problem of under-reporting of rape/violence: 1/4 of victims lodge a complaint for physical violence outside the home, 1/10 for domestic violence.
How to estimate all the consequences (collateral victims, psychological suffering, etc.) + consequences of ‘virile acts’ not punishable by law (e.g. injury sustained while taking risks at a young age with lifelong consequences for physical/psychological health, work, family and friends, etc.).
Price of a human life: 2 methods:
- the loss suffered by society as a result of the death of an individual (who no longer produces or consumes)
- the sums that citizens are prepared to invest to reduce the risks of mortality.
Indirect human cost: physical and psychological suffering, loss of productivity, feeling of insecurity => economic repercussions (tourism, etc.).
The estimation retained by the author: material damage, productivity losses for victims, moral prejudice + direct cost of virility (amount spent by the State).
Calculation methods
« The cost of masculinity is the difference, for each category of offence, between the amount of expenditure attributable to the behaviour of men and that attributable to the behaviour of women. »
For areas where there are more men than women (e.g. driving), the calculations are adapted to compare equal numbers.
12. The cost of virility in major public policies
‘Major public policies’ = law enforcement (police & rescue) + justice + health.
Law enforcement
Annual budget in France in 2019: €13.1 billion.
Constant increase since 2010.
151k police officers + 96k gendarmes.
Men = 83% of those charged with crimes and offences
The cost of virility is estimated at 8.6 billion euros a year in terms of security and policing.
Fire and rescue services
Victim support
In 2019, the firefighters responded to 4.8 million incidents, 85% of which involved personal assistance.
In 292k cases, victims of assault or violence.
Average cost of an intervention = €961.91
The cost of virility in terms of helping victims of assault and violence is estimated at €186 million a year.
Putting out fires
316k interventions per year (~7% of firefighters activity).
Overall SDIS budget = €5.13bn per year
It is not possible to know what proportion of the budget is allocated to fires, so she arbitrarily says 50%, or €2.5bn.
Out of 316k fires per year, ~10% are deliberate.
The cost of virility is estimated at €245 million a year for firefighting.
The cost of virility is estimated at 431 million euros a year for the fire and rescue services.
The total cost of virility for the police and fire and rescue services is therefore 9 billion euros.
Justice (excluding prison administration)
Justice budget = €9.06bn in 2019.
Constant increase since 2013.
The cost of virility is estimated at €3.5 billion a year for the justice system (excluding the prison service).
Prison administration
Men = 96.3% of incarcerated prisoners and 93.6% of those [suivis en milieu ouvert].
Since 1980, the prison population in France has increased by 88%, from 36,000 to almost 80,000 prisoners (i.e. 103 people for every 100,000 inhabitants).
Prison overcrowding: 117 prisoners per 100 places.
The cost of virility is estimated at €3.5 billion a year for the prison administration.
In total, the cost of masculinity in terms of justice, including expenditure allocated to the prison service, is estimated at 7 billion euros per year.
Health
Many more men in emergency departments: 57% of people admitted between the ages of 16 and 50
« Alcoholism, smoking, fighting, drugs, speeding, extreme sports, etc. are all factors that kill men... Men put themselves at greater risk than women throughout their lives. »
« Whatever their age, the premature mortality rate for men (before the age of 65) is 2.1 times higher than for women, and their avoidable premature mortality rate (before the age of 65 and caused by risky behaviour) is 3.3 times higher. »
The cost of virility is therefore estimated at €2.3 billion a year for emergencies and subsequent hospitalisations.
==> Law enforcement + justice + health = 9 + 7 + 2,3 = 18,3 billion euros per year
13. The tip of the iceberg: what about the human and material cost?
Calculation based on the Value of Statistical Life (VSL):
« This methodology makes it possible to estimate the cost to society of a dramatic event of an a priori unquantifiable severity:
- 3.241 million euros for a person killed,
- 405,180 euros for an injured person hospitalised for more than 24 hours,
- 16,207 euros for a slightly injured person,
- 4,970 euros for material damage (material accident or bodily injury). »
Homicides and attempted homicides
880 homicides and 2,561 attempted homicides in 2017.
86% of suspects were men.
*The cost of virility is estimated at €2.4 billion per year for homicides and attempted homicides.
Assault and intentional violence
In 2019, physical violence ‘outside the household’ = 710k people aged 14 and over.
Men = 84% of suspected perpetrators of assault and battery.
The cost of virility is estimated at 18 billion euros per year for intentional physical violence.
Domestic violence
295,000 victims per year, including 213,000 women (72%).
Men = perpetrators in 96% of cases.
In 2019, 146 women killed by their spouse or ex-spouse, i.e. 1 every 2.5 days.
The cost of virility is estimated at €3.3 billion a year for domestic violence.
Child abuse
In 2019, 112k new minors at risk were referred to a children's judge.
The cost of virility in terms of child abuse is estimated at €8.4 billion a year.
Sexual offences (outside the family)
In 2019, 22k people were victims of rape, 87% of whom were women, and 31k people were victims of sexual offences, 85% of whom were women. / ! \ These figures are based on complaints, and therefore fall far short of reality.
97% of those charged with sexual offences are men.
The cost of virility is estimated at 17.8 billion euros per year for sexual offences (outside the family).
Attacks on national security (terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015)
Lack of data, so she only takes the example of 13 November 2015.
The toll: 130 dead and 413 injured.
Estimated cost: €2.2 billion, or 0.1% of GDP.
Theft
2019: 232,000 burglaries, 91% committed by men
2019: 198,000 thefts and attempted thefts of motor vehicles, 95% by men
2017: cost of €7.5 billion for shop thefts, 65% by men.
The cost of virility is estimated at €3.7 billion a year for all thefts.
Road safety
Men = 52% of the distances travelled by car, but 84% of the alleged perpetrators of fatal accidents.
Men = 91% of those convicted of driving without a licence, 93% of those convicted of 5th class offences and 85% of holders of a licence invalidated after points have been withdrawn.
In 2019: 58,840 bodily injury accidents, 70,000 people injured, 3,498 deaths.
The total cost of road accidents in 2019 was €50.9 billion, or 2.2% of GDP.
In total, the estimated human and material cost attributable to virility in terms of road safety is €13.3 billion per year.
Drug trafficking
~1600 deaths per year.
Men = 93% of drug traffickers.
The cost of virility is estimated at 7.5 billion euros per year for drug trafficking.
Human trafficking (prostitution)
The cost of virility is estimated at 313 million euros per year for prostitution.
In total
« I estimate the total costs (sum of State expenditure and human and material costs, according to the VSL methodology) attributable to virile behaviour at 95.2 billion euros per year. That's how much manliness costs society as a whole every year in France, according to my estimate (as this figure is not based on all offences due to a lack of data, it is an underestimate). »
Conclusion
« In France, according to the estimates presented in this essay, the end of the ’virilist system" would enable the State to save 95.2 billion euros each year. Beyond the purely financial aspect, hundreds of thousands of lives would be saved, psychological and physical suffering avoided... Virility is clearly an obstacle to the human and economic development of societies. »
95 billion euros is a colossal sum. For comparison:
- Net revenue collected by the State each year = €250bn
- ISF (litt. Tax on fortune) in 2017: €4.1bn
- tax fraud: between €25bn and €100bn per year
- Income tax = €70.4bn in 2019
- Universal income = estimated at between €36bn and €42bn per year
With these €95 billion a year, we could finance so many things, not to mention the positive spin-offs from the disappearance of all this violence.
« Without the virilist paradigm, there would be virtually no more rapes, assaults, harassment, murders, thefts or swindles. Insecurity would be considerably reduced. »
What can we do?
Men are not predestined to be more agressive than women, it's their education and the cultural schemes that are responsible.
« Men are not born violent, they become violent. »
=> Careful with the education and model we give to children
Educate boys like we educate the girls.
What's the cost worldwide?
No country escapes virility and its nefarious effects.
« Aren't we entitled to think that, without a virilist conception of international relations — governed by the want for domination, colonisation and enslavement —, war and conflicts would be less frequent? »
Human and financial cost of armed conflicts: the cost of world violence (war, terrorism, etc.) is evaluated to 14 000 billion dollars in 2018, or 11,2 % of the world's GDP.
Of course, it's not equally distributed in the world: for example, in 2018, Syria's GDP fell by 67 %.
The human cost is also very high: between 250k and 500k women were raped during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, for example.
Ecology
Studies showed a link between virilistic values and disrespect of the environment.
Being sensitive to ecology is not considered viril + men eat way more meat.
Title : Le coût de la virilité : Ce que la France économiserait si les hommes se comportaient comme les femmes (litt. The cost of virility : what France would save if men behaved like women
Author : Lucie Peytavin
Published by : Anne Carrière
Genre : Essay
Pages : 205
Target price : 17,90 € (paperback), 7,70 € (pocket format)
ISBN : 978-2843379994
Publication date : March 5 2023