Alliance: Newsletter: Fall 2005: Food for Thought
Newsletter: Fall 2005: Food for Thought
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence. They are disproportionately affected by intimate partner (IPV) and sexual violence. However, women and girls are not the sole subjects of gender-based victimization. We know that men and boys can be victims of IPV and sexual violence, and these forms of violence affect people in same-sex relationships and in a variety of forms. Within the Violence Against Women (VAW) analysis, is there is ample room to address sexual and partner violence perpetrated against men and boys?The Violence Against Women movement relies on a gender-based analysis of violence - that violence is an overwhelming social problem that results from the inequality of a sexist society. While gender-based violence can be perpetrated against anyone, because of their subordinate status, women and girls are the primary victims. When we subscribe to the theories of the VAW movement, we subscribe to the idea that violence is not only used to subjugate and degrade a victim, but that it is used by sexist cultures to oppress the victim. When the VAW movement began more than two decades ago, activists, researchers, clinicians, and survivors banded together around a common goal: to create a society that recognizes that violence against women is a serious problem, one that needs to be addressed, understood, and eradicated. At the time, most of the available information indicated that women and girls were primarily the subjects of violence at the hands of male partners or male strangers. Since then, the VAW movement has recognized that men and boys are victimized by gender-based violence at all levels – between individuals, within and among groups, and within social institutions. Does this broader definition challenge the movement’s core premise? Does it somehow make the name of the movement obsolete?
When discussing the potential exclusivity of the “Violence Against Women Movement,” it is useful to pause and shift focus. Instead of asking, “Who is the violence against?” ask “Who is committing the violence?” The overwhelming majority of violent acts are committed by men. Partner and sexual violence (and the threat of such violence) systematically function to instill fear and to impose restrictions within a culture where belief systems, social structures, and institutional practices fuel sexist and heterosexist ideology. Even in the rare instances when the perpetrators of such violence aren’t men, the violence itself serves to maintain men’s domination over women. Consider frequently cited scenarios, like the sexual torture of men at the hands of women prison guards in Abu Ghraib, or statistics that describe parity in teen dating violence committed by both male and female partners. Then remember that the tortured men at Abu Ghraib were quoted as saying that they had been humiliated by being made to feel like women. And remember that the violence committed by adolescent girls against dating partners overwhelmingly takes the form of gay baiting and general “gender policing,” and that, even when physical, such violence rarely results in injury nor does it create a system of power and control.
The Violence Against Women movement arose as a reaction to historical ignorance of violence against women and girls, and as an expression of the dire need to name and give voice to its primary victims. Today, it is of no less importance to focus on women and children as the overwhelming victims of partner and sexual violence, while recognizing that they are not the only victims. However, it is also important to name and recognize the perpetrators of such violence. Globally, the Violence Against Women movement is often referred to as a movement against gender-based violence, a title that reflects the very root cause of the problem. Even more specifically, countries like Sweden have gone so far as to organize a movement to end “Men’s Violence Against Women.” The movement includes government involvement in drafting a “new masculinity” and gender policy. Despite the variety of names, these movements hinge on the same foundation as the Violence Against Women’s movement: safety for women, girls, men and boys is impossible without challenging the cultural beliefs that support sexism. The movement to end violence perpetrated by men will involve addressing and transforming gender relations and creating equality.
[1] ← previous article | next article →
[1]: http://www.nycagainstrape.org/home/nycaasa/stage.nycagainstrape.org/newsletter_article_215.html
Copyright © 2000-2008 by The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault