Junot Díaz and the Double Bind of Trauma and Masculinity
Diaz was deeply abusive. And he is immeasurably brave. How do we place him?
It’s been just over a month since Junot Díaz shared the abuse he suffered as a child with the world. In light of allegations leveled against him by authors Zinzi Clemmons and Carmen Maria Machado, some called Díaz’s autobiographical essay a preemptive strike. Others likened it to Kevin Spacey’s diversion. And others still perceived Díaz as an opportune figure, a man straddling both victimhood and abuse, the “fulcrum of healing.” A week ago, two dozen professors criticized the media’s treatment of the misconduct allegations as a “spectacle.” Díaz himself writes: “I’ve come to learn that repair is never-ceasing.”
Is he a victim, hero, villain, or all three?
We must recognize that when we step into Díaz’s story we’re entering a space that challenges comfortable assertions around victim-blaming, cycles of abuse, determinism, and who deserves forgiveness in a society that cherishes moral purity and savors disgrace.
To approach the subject from any of these vantage points would inevitably tug at a web that can’t be untangled in a single essay. Instead, it helps me to think of it like a sculpture that seems to morph with each step, to remember that…
