Response Post April 14

When I began Steinam’s article I was initially dismissive because the types of crimes she was talking about clearly involve serious mental illness, which I think calls into question how accurate it is to say they are motivated by race or superiority. But her explanation that follows is a revelation that is most shocking because I have never thought of it before. The fact that white males are performing a majority of this type of crime has gone much less discussed/critiqued/analyzed than it should. We are so quick to pick apart how race is involved when crimes are committed by minorities; but when they are committed by white men, it is as if race and gender are not involved whatsoever. Once again, our society’s reaction to these crimes is more indicative of our world than the crime itself. People have a tendency to view others as products of their environments and backgrounds (based on race, gender, class, etc.), but it is much harder to think of one’s self as a product of one’s own situation. Steinem thinks that a recognition of this fact and a deconstruction of the thought that masculinity requires dominance over something/someone is the only way we can put a stop to this dangerous addiction to supremacy our society is placing in white males.

Response Post 4.14

Steinem’s “Supremacy Crimes” was thought provoking and a little frightening. All of the killers that are discussed are well known, but I have never thought about the social categories that they all happen to fit into. Why are white, middle class men disproportionately becoming murderers? Steinman writes about how these men have become addicted to dominance. I find this to be very frightening, and in my own experience I have encountered many males who have a propensity towards violence. When is this violence taken too far? When is that line crossed? And what drives these individuals to completely go off the deep end and become murderers?

One point that really interests me is that Steinman states that “white, non-poor men have a near monopoly on multiple killings of strangers”. Is there a statistic to support this? The only reason I question it is because I feel that murders happen when conditions in people’s lives are so incredibly terrible that they turn to extreme violence, which implies that they have zero economic means.

The best point in this article is when Steinman brings up the idea that society would react so differently to these crimes if they were committed by women. Our society seems to systematically ignore the fact that a specific subset of white men are committing murders disproportionately (I never thought about it until reading this article). However, if women were committing these murders, I think that it would have been noticed, addressed, and dealt with by now.

Responding Post: Brownmiller & Crenshaw

On the topic of girl’s asking to be raped, I thought of Dave Chappelle’s stand-up comment on that. He talks about the way women are dressed to attract that kind of negative attention. Unlike Callie, I was exposed to this argument and it’s something boys at my high school used to say; girls dress the way they want to be treated. The problem I have with these arguments is not so much that they disapprove of women dressing a certain way, but that they use that to rationalize and legitimize sexual violence. Nothing should be used to justify rape. Sentences about rape should never be connected with “but”. “It’s horrible that she was raped last night by three men, but—.” The argument that she was “asking for it” or was promiscuous and was probably fantasizing about it anyway is only serving to belittle the crime.

I also think that the fantasy theory is absolutely absurd. In fact, I think this fantasy theory that women secretly fantasize about being raped is a male fantasy. Why is it that we think about the sexual aspect of rape and immediately relate sex to pleasure? That is a completely male-dominated view of sex. Even when the situation isn’t rape, not all women experience pleasure during sex (something we talked about earlier in the semester along with the 2nd wave). We completely ignore the fact that rape is also about power and domination through the denigration of another.

Though Brownmiller’s language always seems to strike a bad chord because it seems harsh, partly accusatory, and completely ignores male victims, I appreciate her not beating around the bush. Her language says it like it is, which is very easy to understand. Her arguments do tend to villanize the entire male population, but I don’t think all feminist writers should feel obligated to add a little disclaimer about men every single time they publish.

Crenshaw brought up a lot of ideas that really made me think. She made me think about my family’s biography, about history, and about current events as well. Her mentioning of the Marriage Fraud Amendments connects with my first news flash – mail order brides. I have not found studies on how prevalent domestic violence is within those marriages, but I would venture to say that it’s not a low number. I think the arrangement invites an unhealthy relationship between the groom and the mail-order bride.

Another thing she brought up that I found to be highly interesting was about white women helping women of color. I do agree with her when she says how she fears white women might actually cause more harm than good by imposing their values and solutions on these communities already entangled in racism, poverty, and lack of opportunities in general. However, I also don’t think white women should just stay on the sidelines, watch, comment, and write books either. Instead, I think there should be an initiative to establish a relationship between these two groups of women and work together to fix these issues. We need to foster communication between these groups. This will prevent what Crenshaw feared and will give women of color the helping voice they need.

Lead Post 4.11

Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color

Kimberle Williams Crenshaw

Crenshaw discusses how women of color are prone to social marginalization because of their multiple converging identities in society. She discusses the importance of social categories. Although these are indeed social constructions (race, gender, etc.), that is not to imply that socially constructed categories have no importance. Women of color are systematically disadvantaged in society because of the social categories that they are members of. Crenshaw’s paper explores race and gender and how the intersection of these two categories leads to violence against women of color. She claims that negative experiences that women of color have are a result of their intersecting identities (race and gender), and the experiences of women of color are systematically ignored in conversations about racism and sexism.

One of Crenshaw’s most striking examples of this comes from her discussion of a CBS news program called 28 hours. The program had a special about sexual abuse, and included seven women. Six of these women were white, and one was a woman of color. The six white women shared their personal stories and seemed to really connect with viewers, but the woman of color was never focused on my the show. She did not get to personally share her story, and Crenshaw argues that CBS subtly suggested that the woman of color was responsible for her own abuse and victimization. This reminds me of Susan Douglas’ discussion of how the media perpetuates stereotypes about women. CBS had the opportunity to humanize the woman of color and really expose her story, but instead CBS promoted stereotypes and suggested that she was responsible for her situation.

In her conclusion, Crenshaw sums up her argument by stating that intersectionality is a way to “articulate the interaction of racism and patriarchy generally”. I thin intersectionality is an important concept to consider. We often consider challenges that women face today, and separately look at challenges that people of color face. However, with the combination of these two factors, women of color are often in a “bird cage” situation.

Susan Brownmiller

Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape

I, like Mike, was pretty stunned while reading this article. Maybe I am naïve, but I have never heard the idea that all women secretly want to be raped. If this idea has existed in popular culture as a “joke”, I have remained completely unaware. So, while reading, I struggled with that a bit. The phrase seems trivial to me. Of course no woman wants to be sexually assaulted, humiliated, and abused.

Brownmiller discusses how, even from childhood, we are conditioned to know that rape is a “women’s issue”. Girls get raped, not boys. I’m not sure that I agree with Brownmiller’s claim that the Little Red Riding Hood story is a parable of rape…although, the way she describes it makes me almost believe her. There is no doubt that fables and fairytales have definite undertones of sexism, but I think that making them stories about rape may be taking the idea a little too far.

I’m glad that Brownmiller closes her writing with a discussion of how to combat rape. I especially loved her final line, stating that we need to deny rape a future, and it is a problem that rape even has a history to begin with. Her discussion of “fighting back” against men and ending rape is powerful, and I think that she should have spent more time writing about this, and less time writing about how women “want” to be raped.

Response Post April 12

Of all the readings we have done this year, nothing has evoked such a physical response from me as Susan Brownmiller’s “Against our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.” I found myself sighing and cringing at every page, not because I felt like her argument was wrong or right, but because of an intense feeling of being accused. Even the way she structures her language, allows no room for exceptions to her rules; rape “is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear. According to Brownmiller, even the “good” men are upholding the system of rape by encouraging women to rely on their protection. This perspective literally makes me nauseous because it is not really about rape, it diagnoses (or rather, accuses) all sexual relationships, no matter how healthy, of being products of this social mentality.

I understand the point that Brownmiller is trying to make: the threat of rape helps to uphold certain societal norms that are not always healthy. But in my opinion, she underestimates the power of healthy, consenting relationships to combat the fear and oppression of rape. If men and women are educated about sex and engage in sexual activity with maturity and a full understanding of the emotional and physical risks, the social understanding of sex can be much brighter. I know that this doesn’t eliminate the threat of rape, but frankly, neither does Brownmiller’s suggestion. It also makes me angry that she completely exempts males from the threat of rape, particularly because she begins talking about young children. We are all well aware that young boys in particular do not escape the threat of unpleasant or forcible sexual encounters, and it is pretty audacious to relegate the male youth to the position of “the potential raping population.” In fact, I think Brownmiller is, in a way, upholding one of the most unfortunate symptoms of rape in our society by deliberately ignoring this type of sexual victim. I say this because, like female rape victims (and possibly even to a greater extent than women), male rape victims are shamed by our society and therefore experience intense pressure to “keep quiet” as a way to maintain their masculinity. Rape is much more complicated than the all men vs. all women power struggle that Brownmiller makes it out to be. And while I understand the goal she was trying to achieve, her means of arguing for it were offensive to me as male.

I am directing a play right now that was written by Mark Ravenhill, who came to campus last year. Sexual dynamics are a major theme of the play and I highly recommend everyone attend (Ryan 212 on April 27 and 28 at 6). One of the play’s most powerful scenes is a dialogue between husband and wife about the moment their child was conceived. The father is hoping desperately that his son was conceived “in calm” but the mother admits to feeling fleeting moments of rape sometimes when she and her husband have sex. The confession deeply troubles her husband, who is both hurt and defensive against the idea of being a rapist. The scene captures how rape, like Brownmiller argues, is more than isolated incidents of violence, but a concept that exists in the mentality of our society. But I think this scene helps to show that with communication, education, and understanding, we can combat the spread of this nauseating undertone in our society’s sexual dynamics.

Relevant YouTube clip about women "wanting" to be raped:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ossBASHA#p/u/2/b4hNaFkbZYU