1. Gendered/Sexual Violence
Lecture 10
Gendered/Sexual Violence

2. Gendered Violence
Violence against women is pervasive in all contemporary cultures
Societies that have a high level of violence and male-dominance have higher rates of gendered/sexual violence
Patriarchal cultures legitimize the control and sexual use of women
Violence is used to gain and secure power
Violence against women is encouraged by sexist ideology

3. Gendered Violence, Gender Inequality
According to Kimmel, “One of the most significant causes of male violence, then, is gender inequality.”
In small groups:
Look over the list on page 317 and try to find at least one example from our culture/society for each item on the list

4. Male Violence
Males are most often both the victims and the perpetrators in 90% of homicides. 
90% of people who commit violent physical assault are men. Males perpetrate 95% of all serious domestic violence.
The majority of victims of men’s violence are other men (76% M, 24% F)
Out of 10,000 cases of road rage over 95% of them were committed by men
What do you think explains the epidemic of male violence in our society?

5. Masculinity, Media, and Violence
Attitude is Everything
This theme appears most often in advertising geared towards young men.
The message of these "attitude" ads links the flaunting of authority to being a rebel - with "attitude" packaged as a cool, desirable male trait.
Although these advertisements don't necessarily promote violent activities, they encourage "in-your-face" behaviour in teenagers that can easily escalate into real-life violence.
Taken to its extreme, attitude can also include advertisements that depict a mean and nasty world, where vigilante violence is touted as a means of survival.
The Cave Man Mentality
The "Cave Man Mentality" is the use of violent male icons or heros from popular history to demonstrate masculinity in advertisements. Roman centurions, pirates, ancient warriors and even cowboys are used in this context.
The message of these ads is that men have always been brutal and aggressive, that this is a part of their nature that they cannot change.
In these ads, advertisers seek to associate the product with manly needs and pursuits that have presumably existed throughout time.
Another negative aspect of these ads is that they often include dominance of women as a biological fact.
The New Warriors
"The New Warriors" represent an advertiser's use of military or sports figures to enhance the "manliness" of their products.
These ads depict uniformed soldiers and players, complete with weapons and gear, to target young boys and adolescent males.
The message here is that violence is cool, suave and acceptable, as consumers are presented with an adventurous, aggressive and violent image of manhood.
Usually these figures appear in ads for traditional male products, such as beer, running shoes or deodorant, but they are also used to enhance the masculine appeal of more feminine products such as "lite" beer.
Muscles and the "Ideal" Man
Throughout this century, a rippling, muscular body has been associated with an image of ideal manhood. Size and strength are traits that are valued by men across class and racial boundaries.
A muscular man in an advertisement associates dominance and control with the product being sold. Women who appear in such ads are usually depicted in a fawning manner.
Sports and other magazines with a large male readership are filled with ads for muscle-enhancing products - often equating muscles with violent power.
Often, images of physically rugged or muscular male bodies are used to sell more abstract forms of power, such as financial institutions or cars.
A more insidious form of violence that this archetype promotes is self-violence, with men using drugs and extreme exercise in order to attain this "ideal."
Heroic Masculinity
The equation of heroic masculinity with violent masculinity is a by-product of Hollywood action movie promoters. Often, more people see the advertising for a given film than the film itself, and the highlights used to sell the film often include the movie's most violent and sexually titillating scenes.
Condensed footage of actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone offer viewers, is a glamorized form of violent masculinity.
Often, in advertisements for these films, guns and other (often futuristic) weapons are used to signify the virility and power of the male characters.
The media help construct violent masculinity as a cultural norm
Unquestioned assumption that violence is not so much a deviation as it is an accepted part of masculinity
Media representations of men of color (e.g. news accounts, roles in film, pornography, sports) have disproportionately shown them to be aggressive and violent

6. Attitude is Everything
The message of these "attitude" ads links the flaunting of authority to being a rebel - with "attitude" packaged as a cool, desirable male trait
These advertisements often depict a mean and nasty world, where vigilante violence is touted as a means of survival

7. Attitude
Look Both Ways is an example of attitude in advertising taken to an extreme level. Playing on the "mean and scary world" syndrome, this advertisement promotes violent vigilante behaviour as a means of survival.

8. The Cave Man Mentality
The "Cave Man Mentality" is the use of violent male icons or heroes from popular history to demonstrate masculinity in advertisements.
Roman centurions, pirates, ancient warriors and even cowboys are used in this context.
The message of these ads is that men have always been brutal and aggressive, that this is a part of their nature that they cannot change.

9. Cave Man Mentality
The Marlboro Man, that icon of the rugged, solitary male, is meant to suggest that men who smoke Marlboro cigarettes are equally rugged and masculine. With the cowboy icon comes many other (often stereotypical) associations of strength, bravery and 'noble violence' — the lone cowboy using violent behaviour to protect the weak and defenseless (who are usually female).

10. The New Warriors
"The New Warriors" represent an advertiser's use of military or sports figures to enhance the "manliness" of their products
The message here is that violence is cool, suave and acceptable, as consumers are presented with an adventurous, aggressive and violent image of manhood

11. Heroic Masculinity
Is Hollywood's glamorization of male violence. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson and Sylvestor Stallone are traditional examples of the actors who portray the violent male as an heroic ideal. Much attention has been given recently to a new brand of action hero embodied by actors such as Nicholas Cage or Tom Cruise. These modern heroes are supposed to be smarter and more sensitive than their predecessors, but they still get their share of mayhem! When deconstructing these advertisements, students should note how facial expressions, text, weaponry and stance are all used to enhance this archetype.

12. Muscles and the "Ideal" Man
Throughout this century, a rippling, muscular body has been associated with an image of ideal manhood
Size and strength are associated with social power and dominance
A muscular man in an advertisement associates dominance and control with the product being sold

13. “This is Sparta!!!”
Look at how the images of Spartan men are juxtaposed against images of the Persians and women.
What do you notice?

14. Masculinity & Violence: When does it start?
Masculinity in Disney Movies

15. Gendered Violence, Gender Inequality
According to Kimmel, “One of the most significant causes of male violence, then, is gender inequality.”
In small groups:
Look over the list on page 317 and try to find at least one example from our culture/society for each item on the list

16. Sexual Violence
Sexual violence: violent acts in which sexuality is used to gain control and power
Social institutions, as well as individual men, create and continue violence against women
Family
Mass Media
Legal & Justice System

17. Sexual Violence in the US
The level of sexual violence against women in the US is higher than most industrialized countries
1 in 6 women will be raped in their lives
Every TWO minutes a woman is raped or experiences attempted rape
College age women are 4x more likely to be sexually assaulted99.8% of the people in prison convicted of rape are men
Studies have found that men are responsible for 80% to 95% of child sexual abuse cases whether the child is male or female
Among college students nationwide in 2000, between 20% and 25% of women reported experiencing completed or attempted rape
Who are rapists?
2/3 are acquaintances of the victim
50% of all rapes occur within a mile of the victims home

18. Supremacy Crimes Male dominance and supremacy
Conquest mentality
Sexual control as power
Sexual violence and social control of women
Fear of sexual violence shapes women's behavior
Prisons and artificial systems of male dominance increase the likelihood of male-to-male rape
Men who are raped are feminized

19. A woman’s fault?
What are some of the myths in our society about why women are raped?
Is there are double-standard? Are men & boys subject to the same myths?

20. Sexual Violence: A Woman’s Problem
Sexual violence: violent acts in which sexuality is used to gain control and power
Most sexual violence is not about desire or lust, but about gaining power over individuals
Sexual crimes: sexual behavior that is illegal
Different sexual behavior is a crime in different social contexts
For example in many countries around the world sodomy is a crime
And it still is in some states in the US
Interracial marriage used to be a crime in the US
Marital rape is not a crime in a majority of countries around the world
Rape, incest, pedophilia, & sexual harassment are crimes in the US
Most sexual crimes are committed against women and children
Those who are seen the most vulnerable and least powerful in society
Today we will talk about rape and sexual violence
Rape and the State
In the US rape legally occurs when someone uses force or the threat of force to have anal, vaginal, or oral intercourse
statutory rape is where a sexual act is automatically considered rape by the law, regardless of whether it was coercive or consensual.
Such laws are common. They exist in order to prevent adults from having sex with minors, who are more easily influenced and therefore are protected by being automatically deemed unable to give legally effective informed consent.
Spousal or marital rape – was not made illegal until 1977
In fact most law students were not taught rape and sexual assault law until the late 1970’s
Forcible or non-consensual acts that do not meet the criterion for rape in a jurisdiction (in most cases because they are not penetrative) are often called sexual assault instead.
Rape has a low report rate and a low conviction rate
1/2 of those reported result in arrest and 22% of those arrested are convicted
One of the issues is that rape is still thought to be the fault of the person raped and therefore it often falls on the victim (women) to prove their innocence in addition to proving the guilt of the rapist
This is due to several myths about rape and women
She was asking for it
She was under the influence
She was playing hard to get
She should have been more cautious
For example in the case of an 11 year old girl who had been raped in her house by a 33 year old man she met on the internet, the judged reduced his sentence saying “It takes two to tango” and she was partly to blame through her behavior
“Woman’s problem”
Rape is therefore, generally seen as a woman’s problem – her behavior and choices
Unique compared to other crimes – because the woman must prove her innocence
Rape, sexual enslavement, and genocide
Sexual violence as systematic
Policy of the government or political groups
Intersectionality: need to take into account the intersection of race, class, and gender when we look at rape as a weapon of war
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women states in Article 1:
"the term ‘violence against women’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."
"Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women's ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men."
Violence against women in war time is used to attack men, provide soldiers with the spoils of war, or to effect a genocide (minimize ethnic purity)
Legitimized by an backed indirectly by patriarchal systems which legitimize men’s control over women's sexuality
Bosnia
Form of genocide and ethnic cleanings – forcing Muslim women to have Serbian babies
Women and young girls were held in rape camps and forced to be sexual slaves
Rwanda
Women were raped or experienced sexual violence as a result of the war – estimates are around 500,000
Sudan
Massive human rights violations committed in the region include: extra-judicial executions, unlawful killings of civilians, torture, rapes, abductions, destruction of villages and property, looting of cattle and property, the destruction of the means of livelihood of the population attacked and forced displacement.
These human rights violations have been committed in a systematic manner by the Janjawid, often in coordination with Sudanese soldiers and the Sudanese Air Force, with total impunity, and have targeted mainly members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups and other agro-pastoralist groups living in Darfur.
Many of the crimes committed in Darfur constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity(5).
Violence against women and rape has been systematic
Stigmatizes and isolates women
Rape, domestic violence, and other sexual crimes are seen as a “woman’s problem”
½ of rape reported ends in arrest and 22% are convicted
Marital rape was not illegal in US till 1977
Rape is still considered the fault of the person raped and rape victims often have to prove their innocence
For example, in the case of an 11 year old girl who had been raped in her house by a 33 year old man she met on the internet, the judged reduced his sentence saying “It takes two to tango”

21. Domestic Violence
The majority of the women who commit murder usually do so as a defense against men who have been battering them for years
90% of the women in jail for murder are there for killing male batterers.
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 95% of reported assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men against women
It is estimated that 1 in 4 men will use violence against his partner in his lifetime.
One in 12, or 8.2 million women, will be stalked at some point in their lifetime. 80% of the women stalked by intimates had also been physically assaulted by them.

22. Violence against women is pervasive in all contemporary cultures

23. Sexual Violence & Institutional Power
In patriarchal societies interpersonal sexual violence is normalized and commonplace since it is deeply woven into the fabric of our culture and social institutions
Sexual violence is also used as a tool to gain institutional power and control.
Sexual violence can be used to destabilize a society and gain power

24. Indian Infanticide
The Lancet reported in early 2006 that there may have been close to 10 million female fetuses aborted in India over the past 20 years
Abortion and the “sharp jerk” method
Cultural and socio-economic reasons:
Women are an economic liability – dowry
Family line continued thru sons
Hindu religion requires males to send parents souls to heaven

25. Acid Attacks on Women In South Asia, 61 such attacks since 1999
Mostly in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan where acid is cheap and widely available
Popular televised serials and films reinforce the idea by repeatedly portraying acid attacks

26. Honor Killings Human Rights Watch:
“Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce — even from an abusive husband — or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonors" her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life.”
An honor killing or honour killing[1] is generally the punitive murder of a female member of a family by the family, when they (and maybe the wider community) believe her to have brought dishonor upon them. A woman can be targeted commonly for: refusing an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce — even from an abusive husband — or committing adultery or fornication. These killings result from the perception that any behavior of a woman that "dishonors" her family is justification for a killing that would otherwise be deemed murder

27. Rape as a Weapon of War Violence against women in war time is used to:
Attack men
Provide soldiers with the spoils of war
A tool of genocide (minimize ethnic purity)
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women states in Article 1:
"the term ‘violence against women’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women”
"Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women's ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men."
Rape, sexual enslavement, and genocide
Sexual violence as systematic
Policy of the government or political groups
Intersectionality: need to take into account the intersection of race, class, and gender when we look at rape as a weapon of war
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women states in Article 1:
"the term ‘violence against women’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."
"Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women's ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men."
Violence against women in war time is used to attack men, provide soldiers with the spoils of war, or to effect a genocide (minimize ethnic purity)
Legitimized by an backed indirectly by patriarchal systems which legitimize men’s control over women's sexuality
Bosnia
Form of genocide and ethnic cleanings – forcing Muslim women to have Serbian babies
Women and young girls were held in rape camps and forced to be sexual slaves
Rwanda
Women were raped or experienced sexual violence as a result of the war – estimates are around 500,000
Sudan
Massive human rights violations committed in the region include: extra-judicial executions, unlawful killings of civilians, torture, rapes, abductions, destruction of villages and property, looting of cattle and property, the destruction of the means of livelihood of the population attacked and forced displacement.
These human rights violations have been committed in a systematic manner by the Janjawid, often in coordination with Sudanese soldiers and the Sudanese Air Force, with total impunity, and have targeted mainly members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups and other agro-pastoralist groups living in Darfur.
Many of the crimes committed in Darfur constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity(5).
Violence against women and rape has been systematic
Stigmatizes and isolates women

28. Rape as a weapon is backed indirectly by patriarchal systems which legitimize men’s control over women's sexuality
Stigmatizes and isolates women
Bosnia
Form of genocide and ethnic cleanings – forcing Muslim women to have Serbian babies
Women and young girls were held in rape camps and forced to be sexual slaves
Rwanda
Women were raped or experienced sexual violence as a result of the war – estimates are around 500,000
Sudan
Massive human rights violations committed in the region have included extensive acts of sexual violence, committed in a systematic manner by the Janjawid, often in coordination with Sudanese soldiers and the Sudanese Air Force

29. Rape in the Congo
John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs: “The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,” said. “The sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity — it’s appalling.”
Gov’t troops, Hutu militias, and gangs are perpetrators
Over 3,500 cases of sexual violence in North Kivu Province alone between January and September of 2008
An estimated 70% of rapes include sexual brutality, whereby women are injured, murdered, and/or made to be infertile

30. Violence, Gender, and Power
Violence is used to gain and secure power
Violence against women is encouraged by sexist ideology
Social institutions, as well as individual men, create and continue violence against women
Family, economy, mass media
Violence also occurs against others less powerful including children and those who cross gender boundaries