Gender, Violence and power Flashcards
1
Q
how has patriarchy changed from then and now?
A
- The literal meaning of the word patriarchy is the rule of the father. It refers to the control of female and younger male family members by select adult men, or patriarchs.
- A limited brotherhood
- Formal gender equality
2
Q
how do we think about gender?
A
- Whereas one no longer needs to be male to count as an autonomous person in the world, men continue to be conceived as the generic human, with women as deviant from the norm.
- Most of us still live in societies that symbolically equate the exercise of power with masculinity.
3
Q
how has the patriarchy modified?
A
- On the one hand, gender egalitarianism is the default in modern societies.
- On the other hand, despite the many modifications made to patriarchal practices, the patriarchal conflation of power and masculinity remains a central part of contemporary life.
4
Q
what are the relations of inequality?
A
- Sexism
- Androcentricism
- Men and women are brought together into hierarchical relationships, often through conformity with gendered expectations. Thus placing of women into positions that make them subservient to or dependent on men is called subordination.
5
Q
what is hegemony?
A
- Hegemony is a sociological concept used to help us understand the persistence of social inequality.
- It refers to a state of collective consent to inequality that is secured by the idea that it is inevitable, natural, or desirable.
6
Q
what are the dangers of masculinity?
A
- Harming Others
- Extreme conformity to the more aggressive rules of masculinity, or hypermasculinity, is glorified in many corners of our culture.
- Harm to the Self
- Hypermasculinity in Interaction
7
Q
what does it mean to Bargen with patriarchy?
A
- Instead of repudiating hegemonic masculinity, many men embrace strategies that allow them to benefit from being men, even if it simultaneously gives other men status over them.
- Accordingly, many men, even those who populate the bottom rungs of the hierarchy, will defend hegemonic masculinity.
- This is called a patriarchal bargain: a deal in which an individual or group accepts or even legitimates some of the costs of patriarchy in exchange for receiving some of its rewards.
8
Q
what is rape culture? how is rape mobilized?
A
- Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture.
-Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety.
9
Q
what are some examples of rape culture?
A
- Blaming the victim (“She asked for it!”)
- Trivializing sexual assault (“Boys will be boys!”)
- Sexually explicit jokes
- Tolerance of sexual harassment
- Inflating false rape report statistics
- Publicly scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives, and history
- Gratuitous gendered violence in movies and television
- Defining “manhood” as dominant and sexually aggressive
- Defining “womanhood” as submissive and sexually passive
- Pressure on men to “score”
10
Q
what is compulsory heterosexuality?
A
- First coined by Adrienne Rich (1980), the term compulsory heterosexuality refers to the idea that heterosexuality is constructed, institutionalized, and reinforced as not only a universal, but the only “normal” and “acceptable” form of sexuality.
- One idea behind compulsory heterosexuality is that heterosexuality is not a freely made choice for most people and for women in particular: Heterosexuality is not simply one option among many. Rather, it is a pervasive, powerful, and coercive social and political institution that depends on other powerful social institutions to maintain its dominance.
- From this perspective, heterosexuality is imposed upon people as natural and inevitable by peers, parents, schools, media, and other social institutions such as law and religion.
