Gender, Crime and Justice

1. Gender, Crime and Justice

2. Definitions • “Most of the knowledge produced in our society has been produced by men; they have usually generated the explanations and the schemata and have then checked with each other and vouched for the accuracy and adequacy of their view of the world. They have created men’s studies (the academic curriculum), by not acknowledging that they are presenting only the explanations of men, they have ‘passed off’ this knowledge as human knowledge” (Dale Spender, 1981 Men’s Studies Modified:1). “Women hold up half of the sky” Mao Tse Tung • “Governments and international bodies discuss “The World's Problems"… without noticing that at least half of those who suffer from "The World's Problems” are women who, in addition, are not consulted about possible solutions”. http://rehydrate.org/facts/women-at-risk.htm

3. Exercise Finishing this sentence: • Patriarchy is….

4. Dictionary – rule by male head of a family unit • Feminist – a social system of masculine domination over women • The patriarchy I blame isn’t people, it’s a system. It is a hierarchical system of dominance at the gilded pinnacle of which pink-faced male captains of industry luxuriate, and at the rat-infested bottom of which poor brown women die screaming in filth and penury. In between are sub-hierarchies, but one constant obtains across all class, cultural and geographical lines: within any given hierarchy, women are consistently relegated to the lowest possible status. And the rich white guy outranks everybody. • http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2005/11/05/the-maiden-aunt-explains-patriarchy/

5. Dual Systems Theory • Marxism "gives us no clue as to why women are subordinate to men inside and outside the family” Hartmann, H. ‘The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism’ in Sargent, L. (1981) Women and Revolution, Monthly Review Press (can be viewed for free on Google books).

6. Criticisms of the concept of patriarchy • Ahistorical – does not acknowledge or account for historical variations in gender relations. • Reductionist – focuses on just one or two factors that result in gender differences. • Limited conceptualisation –ignores the relationships between men and men or women and women. • Universalism – fails to recognise cultural variations or suggesting that men and women are the same the world over. • Structuralism – patriarchy tends to over emphasise structures while failing to fully recognise the role of individual agency – both in the creation of gender inequality and in resistance to it.

7. Walby 6 structures of patriarchy: • Household production • Paid work • The state • Male violence • Sexuality • Culture Women now have “the whole of society in which to roam and be exploited” (Walby, 1990 Theorising Patriarchy: 201).

8. Connell Connell identifies 4 dimensions of patriarchy: • Power relations • Production relations • Emotional relations • Symbolic relations • “Men may cook or weave or dress dolls or hunt humming birds but if such activities are appropriate occupations of men, then the whole society, men and women alike, votes them as important. When the same activities are performed by women, they are regarded as less important” (Margaret Mead, 1950).

9. Transgendered challenges to patriarchy • Power relations – in the form of sexual violence • Production relations - straight men buying sex from transsexuals • Emotional relations – the conflation of sexual desire and hatred • Symbolic relations – in the cultural construction of ‘masculinities’ • “I think men have a definite dislike for women in general, that’s why women are raped and bashed, and strippers are up there to provide an outlet for this dislike by the yelling of profanities at them. Transsexuals are lower down than women according to men, and look how many men sexually abuse transsexuals” (Perkins 1983 ‘The Drag Queen Scene’:73)

10. Political Gender Theories – Profeminist Men • John Stoltenberg, Jeff Hearn, Stephen Whitehead and Richard Collier • The ‘all-male pack’ is essentially contemptuous of anyone who is female or who is construed as feminized, or not really manly… People born with penises must strive to make the idea of male sexual identity personally real by doing certain deeds, actions that are valued and chosen because they produce the desired feeling of belonging to a sex that is male and not female. The impetus to prove oneself a “real man”, and the fear of not being a “real man” is the guiding force in men’s lives .. What’s more, the status of being a “real man” is something that is fragile and can be revoked at any time. (John Stoltenberg in ‘Refusing to be a man’) • ‘Men for Change’ ‘Men Can Stop Rape’ ‘White Ribbon Campaign’

11. Antifeminist Men UK Men’s Movement • women have about 5.6% more votes than men, and this may not be lost on the political parties; • the media reflect this situation in dealing with women's issues, together with denigration of men in articles and advertisements; • feminists have obtained positions of great influence within the Government and with law makers; • the democratic process has broken down, as we have not been able to obtain remedies through our MPs etc. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M-KsXwPVgc (exchange the word feminist for Black) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jfaOfl-DY8 (same guy)

12. Profeminist men on anti-feminists • “the men’s movement does not, I believe, pose a significant threat to women’s equality; not least because their pronouncements have an increasingly freakish quality. Importantly the processes of change in gender relations are now too broad and deeply rooted across the Western world to be halted by any single movement … Nevertheless, there can never be cause for complacency, and any notion of a ‘postfeminist’ age is decidedly premature” (Whitehead, 2002: 69). • “being a man should never be at the expense of women. The core of one’s being must love justice more than manhood” (Stoltenberg, 2002)