Patriarchy and Radical Feminism

Week 9

Gender and Society

Recap

• Social construction of gender

• Look at social structures such as media, work and education

• Considered Liberal and socialist feminism– Introduced patriarchy as a form of oppression

Outline

• Main points of radical feminism

• Definitions/critiques of patriarchy

• Universalism and

Essentialism

Radical feminism

• Radical feminism is often the one in public imagination

• Women oppressed as women

• Key sites of oppression– Family and personal relationships– Sexuality

Gendered power

• Male power needs to be recognised and understood in all its forms

• Male oppression has primacy over other forms of oppression

• Violence is a key part in maintaining male dominance

Violence against women

• Not random acts by a few men but a key element in male power

• Violence and/or threats of violence are used to control women

• Sexual violence is a continuum – Domestic violence, sexual harassment, pornography,

prostitution, rape etc are all linked

Continuum of sexual violence

‘The continuum of sexual violence ranges from extensions of the myriad forms of sexism women encounter everyday through to the all too frequent murder of women and girls by men’

• Kelly L (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence Minnesota. p97

Domestic violence in the UK

• One in four women will be assaulted by a male partner

• On average two women per week are killed by a male partner or former partner

• One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute

• Over a third of all female murder victims are killed by a current or former partner

Wilcox P (2005) Understanding Domestic Violence Routledge

Rape on Trial

• 1 in 4 women suffer rape or attempted rape.

• 97% of callers to rape crisis centres knew their assailant (usually they are current/ex-husbands/ partners)

• Less than 7% had reported the assault to the police

• Only 5% of rapes reported to the police end up in a conviction

Lees S (1996) Carnal Knowledge Penguin

Restricted movements

• ‘Women have been warned not to go out alone after dark after a series of three rapes and two abduction attempts in the same town over 10 days’. (Northampton Times 10/09/05)

• Women are expected to restrict their lives

• Why are men asked to stay in, so as not to be a threat towomen?

Sexual Exploitation

• Radical feminism believes that prostitution, pornography and similar sexualised events are always exploitative

• All sexualised treatment of women

reinforces male power

Continuum of Violence

• Radical feminists do not claim that all men are violent towards women

• But all men benefit from the threat of violence posed by some men

• The risk means that women may become dependant on male protection

Continuum of violence?

• To what extend do you think it is useful to think of violence against women as a continuum?

Patriarchy defined

Different definitions:

• Millet - Universal system of male dominance

• Walby – Six main social structures»Family Work»State Violence»Sexuality Culture

The family system

• For Millet, patriarchy is a socially conditioned belief system which appears to be natural.

• It arises from and is reinforced by the perpetuation of heterosexual family

• The ideals of romantic love helps men to exploit and undermine women

Walby’s Social Structures

Family – Male breadwinner/female homemaker

Work – vertical and horizontal segregation

State– Laws supporting male power

Sexuality– Compulsory heterosexuality

Violence– Actual or threats

Culture – Support though literature and media

Patriarchal State

• For radical feminism, male dominance is also supported by a patriarchal state– Crimes against women not taken seriously

• Things are improving – Rape now recognised in marriage– Domestic violence taken more seriously

• Some problems remain– Immigration requirements can mean women have to

choose between violence or deportation

• How do you think the different elements support or undermine each other? Discuss this with you neighbour.

Universalism

• Universal oppression lead to ideas of ‘sisterhood’

– Women’s shared position

as oppressed

– Stressed similarities

between women– Women’s experience key

to gaining understanding

Essentialism

• Focus on women’s shared experiences risk risks being essentialist – Valorising mothers as caring risks

returning to biological-reductionism

– Danger of overlooking the differences

between women

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of seeing women as a social group with common interests.

Radical feminist activism

• Rape crisis centres

• Refuge movement

• Women’s health movement

• Women’s peace movement

Feminist Activism

• www.womeninblack.org.uk

• Southall Black Sisters

Public and Private

• Liberal feminism concentrates on the public sphere and formal equality

• Socialist feminism looks at both the public and private spheres

• Radical feminism concentrates on the private sphere

Summary

• Patriarchy is the key concept for radical feminism

• Feminist activism– Reproductive rights– Violence against women

• Dangers of universalism and essentialism