Kid tries to prove his masculinity by shooting himself in the head on live video

See, it’s bullshit like this that motivates me to destroy gender roles, not just for feminism’s sake, but for men as well. This child did not, obviously, think things through before he tried to prove how “manly” he was to his friends on video chat. He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, not realizing that the gun was loaded.

About 1:15 a.m., the teen was video-chatting — police believe it was either over Skype or another video-chat service called ooVoo — with an as-yet-unidentified person while his brothers were asleep in the room in their Kensington house.

Sometime during the video chat, things went horribly wrong.

“His manhood or his ego was challenged and he said something along the lines of, ‘I’ll show you,'” Gallagher said. “He thought he was clowning around, trying to shock the other party on the Internet site.”

That’s when the teen picked up his older brother’s gun and, believing it was unloaded, put it to his head and pulled the trigger, police said.


This is a damn good justification for gun control as well — for instance, legal requirements that demand that you keep your guns secured at all times. That way, the gun’s owner, the kid’s older brother, could be charged with criminal negligence in this child’s grievous injury and very probable death. The brother didn’t think the gun was loaded either. And nobody tried to keep him from committing this act of defiant stupidity.

Let’s reiterate: a boy is braindead because he was compelled to “prove” his masculinity to some friends, and did so with a loaded gun.

Tell me this isn’t a damn good reason to break the cycle of toxic masculinity, of everyone drumming “manliness” as equated to reckless stupidity into their children’s minds. This child did not need to die this way, especially not at the altar of traditional gender roles.

{advertisement}
Kid tries to prove his masculinity by shooting himself in the head on live video
{advertisement}

57 thoughts on “Kid tries to prove his masculinity by shooting himself in the head on live video

  1. 51

    Wow. Thanks Sally Strange, I didn’t even realize this goober ejaculated thusly all over this thread.

    Yes, I also find it very interesting that in a post where I decry toxic masculinity — where I advocate destroying rigid gender roles so men don’t cavalierly put their one and only life in jeopardy so they can appear to be “tough” — I get trolled by an MRA, ostensibly one of the “male voices” who advocate for men. FOR MEN. MEN’S RIGHTS.

    Think about that for a second, male voice. Maybe you should consider doing something about the disadvantages of being a man instead of pretending like the only way to fix society is to tear down women for the dire crime of working toward equality.

    People like you turn my stomach. You are doing more damage to men than anything any woman has ever done.

  2. 52

    It is weird that an MRA would show up in a thread talking about the place where gun culture and macho bullshit meet. After all, it isn’t men who need to live in fear of women shooting them.

  3. 53

    Oh shit Jason! You reeled in a bona fide misogynist/male supremacist! Look, how cute. He claims to speak for all men. Nay, all male organisms! He is the MALE VOICE.

    The male voice requires translation, allow me…

    Men will certainly not stop to comply with gender roles before women stop to gratify such compliance.

    Translation: Women are to blame for sexism and rigid gender roles.

    (Yes I know in this case no women seem to have been involved.)

    Even when there are no women in sight. It’s still their fault.

    But this post is ironic for two reasons:

    I don’t know the meaning of the word “ironic.”

    First it comes at a time where more and more women complain that men are not “manly” enough anymore.

    I have to make things up to justify my belief that women are to blame for sexism! Isn’t that awesome, how I can just invent reality like that?

    Second Mr gender role destroyer has or at least used to have a beard. But I know what you are going to say: “That was solely your choice and had nothing to do with masculinity.”

    Did I mention how I like to make things up? Well, in my invented reality, feminists say that there are zero biological differences between the sexes. Therefore, if you take note or act on any of those biological differences, e.g., growing or not growing a beard, you are a hypocritical feminist and you are not allowed to talk smack about rigid gender roles. Because rigid gender roles are TOTES AWESOME!

  4. 54

    Yeah, cause women always swoon over men who are trying to prove their manliness in the most dangerous, most violent way possible (and throw in a lot of strong homosocial bonding which excludes women for good measure, we LOVE that).

    Macho culture has very little to do with women’s romantic preferences.

  5. 56

    Stories like this are why I’m pro-sword. Rather harder to forget you left your sword unsheathed and accidentally disembowel yourself with it.

    Actually addressing the gun problem in America and elsewhere involves doing something that almost no politician ever talks about, including the supposedly “anti-gun”/pro-gun-control ones. That is, eliminating the commercial arms industry. So long as we’re starting wars for the flimsiest of reasons half the time, and selling weapons to dictators [*] and rebels [**] the other half, this issue isn’t going to go away.

    Of course, for calling for the outright dismantling of the arms industry, the NRA would probably label me as a pinko-nazi commufascist, or some other random assortment of slurs. [***]

    [*] Who we previously installed and/or supported whole-heartedly in the fight against communism/fascism/socialism/anarchy/terrorism or whatever other political flavor of the week.

    [**] Who mostly only exist because of the oppressive environment created by exploitative practices enforced by those dictators we previously empowered, or otherwise by imbalanced trade and economic policies enacted for the benefit of the few over the many.

    [***] “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican

  6. 57

    Maybe there IS a logical reason that an MRA showed up in this thread that is worth mentioning. After all, that whole thing seems to exist as a monument to the idea that life is a zero-sum game, where if women are made more equal it requires that men become somehow less so. It seems to be part and parcel of a society that has always been based more on competition than cooperation, and on some people dominating others for their own gain. And there’s always been a class of people who don’t have much going for them who have been placated by the notion that at least they aren’t a woman/gay/black; people near the bottom rungs of the status level are incredibly protective of their minor privilege over the people they see as being just below them on the ladder.

    As society starts to slowly, painfully correct the inequality between those of us without much other privilege going for us, some people are going to become MRAs and struggle to maintain their historical superiority. Maybe some people will buy guns and feel like they have at least one tool with which to dominate other people, something that makes them feel like there’s at least the group of unarmed people who are lower than they are. And considering the number of women who get shot in America, I’m guessing those two groups overlap.

Comments are closed.