Discussion Question about (Violence Against Women)

lecture_violence_against_women.ppt

Lecture 9:
Violence Against Women

WMST 301

Professor Lawston

Understanding
Violence Against Women

Violence against women is pervasive in all cultures. Violence and the fear of violence are used to control women’s actions and bodies.
Violence against women is produced at the intersections of race, class, and gender.
Social institutions as well as individual men create and continue violence against women.
Violence also occurs against others less powerful including children and those who cross gender boundaries.

Fraternities and Rape Culture (FF chap 42)

According to the chapter, rapes occur frequently in fraternities (but not all fraternities) because the recruitment processes, structural characteristics, and treatment of women in fraternities produce a culture that accepts and promotes the sexual coercion of women.

The authors argue that most fraternities are deeply concerned with definitions of masculinity that are grounded in aggression, competition, and heterosexuality. Some fraternities try to recruit men who exhibit these stereotypically male characteristics.

Practices and structures in the fraternity such as the mistreatment of pledges, the focus on brotherhood, a concern about group loyalty, the use of alcohol, and the prevalence of violence and competition contribute to a rape culture.

The authors argue that women are treated as commodities by fraternities; they are used as bait (to attract recruits), as servers (filling men’s needs), and as sexual prey (conquest), and this can be found in the structural characteristics of fraternities (e.g., Little Sisters).

These characteristics not only contribute to the prevalence of rape, but they also make it highly unlikely that fraternity men can be adequately prosecuted for their crimes.

It is the fraternity as a group structure that contributes to the prevalence of rape in fraternities. According to the authors, fraternities must change dramatically before this can be stopped.

Reading 43: Mapping the Margins

Crenshaw uses intersectionality theory to argue that race, class, and gender operate together to place many women in danger of violence and to prevent them from receiving help.
She makes the case that the political strategies of the antiracist and feminist movements have often silenced debate about the needs of women of color; the antiracist movement has focused more on men, and the feminist movements have silenced women of color.

Crenshaw’s arguments

Immigrant women are often forced to remain in abusive relationships to avoid being deported. Additionally, many of these women experience cultural and linguistic barriers to services for abused women.
Although many women of color experience domestic violence, anti-racist movements have silenced women’s concerns in order to counter stereotypes of minorities and to maintain family honor. It is likely that racism contributes to domestic violence.
The feminist movement has broadened the public’s understanding of who is abused to include women of all racial and economic backgrounds, but it has done so in a way that often ignores the specific needs of women of color and addresses only the needs of white women.
When violence against women was viewed as a minority problem, it was ignored, but it receives attention now that it is seen as a gender issue that relates to white women.
Domestic-violence support services have often disregarded the needs of women of color and are often inaccessible to non-English speakers.