CRJ #8 - Resisting Violence Against Women

Throughout this course, there has been much emphasis on the products of social construction. This section of material has added another item to the list: sexual violence. In order to understand why there is gendered sexual violence one must look toward understanding gendered thoughts. As children, we are all taught that the female is the emotional sex which is able to exhibit sensitivity and dependency. Boys are told to hide these emotions because they show “weakness”, and therefore males are the empowered sex. Some explain that this relationship actually promotes violence between the sexes. Men are supposed to appear domineering while women are supposed to submit. With this sense of masculinity, a power issue emerges within the male psyche. They now feel like they have the upper-hand in both relationships and within the political/public sector. Some scholars entitle this the rape spectrum. “This means that all sexist behaviors are arranged along a continuum from unexamined feelings of superiority over women, for example, on one end to rape on the other” (pg 560). This continuum connects many aspects of women’s lives that may be very different. As men see women emerge in powerful positions, they begin to become angry or insecure about the new female power. This causes sexual violence because men must now take down women in order to regain their lost power. Women's success is not an attempt by women to overtake men; however, this is how males view it. In addition, males are driven by sex to an extent; over the years, some violence has been portrayed as erotic and therefore becomes sexual. Examples of this were seen in the previous unit with violence against women is in advertising to sexually draw a male’s attention. Finally, it has become an accepted fact that there will be violence in society. Shaw and Lee call this the “normalization of sexual violence” (pg 560). I witnessed this first hand in my interviews, when the participants answered that not much can be done to decrease sexual violence against women. They thought there were always going to be people who thrived on it, so all attempts will simply fail.

Throughout this semester, I have learned how male insecurity is a source of so many problems between the sexes. It denied women’s rights. It forced women to work at home. It rebelled against the idea of homosexuality. Now, I am learning that is also causes sexual violence against women. In all honesty, I think it is somewhat funny that men attempt to appear so confident when insecurity is really a large driving force in their lives. No way would they ever admit it, but there seems to be a lot of evidence to support these notions. I understand, though, that there is a lot of frustration among women about how to eliminate sexual violence. When asking the question in the interview about how to decrease sexual violence, I somewhat agreed with the interviewees. What can be done? But I know something must be done. Sexual violence cannot be eliminated unless the causes of it are known, and one major factor is gendered beliefs.