Violence, Masculinity And Femicide Within South Africa

The determination of gender identity is much deeper than whether a person is born a male or a female. The exact identifier that separates gender identity is currently unknown but researchers believe that genetics, hormones, reproductive organs, biological, and environmental factors all play a role in distinguishing a person’s gender identity. A person’s physical gender and their sense of gender are formed at two different times in two different parts of the body. A person’s gender is whether they are born male or female, but the way they identify themselves may be the opposite, which is not uncommon and has occurred since the beginning of time. In culture males are known to be the stronger, more aggressive sex, while females are the

Women, unfortunately, have been very discriminated against, even in this century. Women are so cruelly thought of that now, women see nothing wrong with mental and physical cruelty towards them. Since the status of women in Africa, is so low, it has caused many men to overpower women…physically. More

For many decades, women have experienced all forms of oppression and constant violence that threatened their existence in the male-dominated society. Various forms of discrimination and oppression have been directed to women for decades. Violence directed at women such as rape and battery were seen and treated as isolated scenarios. However, as the need to foster gender equality took pace, such oppressive actions are now perceived as elements of a wider system of dominance in the society that that needs to be addressed as a whole rather than in singularity

How we learn gender is part of gender socialization. It begins the moment we are born and continues till the end of our life. We are exposed to many factors that may influence our gender identity. Some of the factors are, media, our experience in school and our parents. In Martin & Kazyak’s essay titled “Hetero-Romantic Love and Hetereosexiness”, he explains how the media plays a part in shaping a child’s gender identity. In Thorne’s essay titled “Girls and Boys together…” he explores how sex segregation occurs predominantly in elementary school. In the film “Tough Guise”, Katz explains that men aren’t naturally violent but are taught to be so. And lastly, in Cornell’s essay titled “Masculinities and Globalization” he says that there are

According to sociobiology our sex, or, our biological differences are what determines our gender. Sociobiologists suggest that biological elements such as our hormones, chromosomes and the size of our brain are what influence our behaviour and consequently what differentiates our gender. Because men produce more testosterone and androgens than women, which are linked to strength and aggression, sociobiologists argue that this explains men’s dominant and aggressive behaviour. (Haralambos & Holborn, 2000)

In reading Elizabeth Stanko’s contribution one becomes attentive to how females are to blame for the brutality of male violence. She states that “male violence against women remains a problem of women’s respectability not men’s behaviour” (4). Additionally, she cautions the reader throughout that male violence is condoned, even infrequently punished, by the Criminal Justice System. Stanko’s book offers a detailed analysis which takes the reader through the act of male violence and its aftermath for the victims.

Barbara Perry’s article “Doing Gender and Doing Gender Inappropriately” addresses violence and gender, and how gender is influenced through the way it is perceived in society. The construction of gender comes in polar extremes, with masculine dominant men and feminine subordinate women. Gendered violence is used to control women as a class. It is a systematic tool used by men to reinforce gender norms and patriarchal ideas of masculine superiority and feminine inferiority. It “terrorizes the collective by victimizing the individual”. Like any dichotomy, it has scripts, and to deviate from these scripts will leave you labeled as ‘unnatural’ and ‘immoral’. These scripts “constrain everything from modes of dress and social roles to ways of expressing emotion and sexual desire”. In Judith Lorber’s “A World Without Gender” we are introduced to the possibility of eliminating gender and how “degendering [would] undercut the patriarchal and oppressive structure of Western Societies”.

A women who have been batter by men often talk about the heightened sensitivity they develop to their partners’ moods. Being able to anticipate and avoid the men’s rage is important to survival (Adams, M 2010). Survival sometimes means not responding to oppressive behaviors directly (Adams, M 2010). To do so could result in psychical harm to oneself, even death (Adams, M 2010). Woman have been viewed as less emotionally secure than men, however rather than seeing gender as extending from sex, Butler argues that sex is produced by gender. That is, the discursive formations of masculinity and femininity require the belief in a naturally bifurcated structure or biological sex (Chinn, S. 2010).

Gender has been a big issue in society. Sex is biological, and it is through sex that gender is produced (which according to West and Zimmerman, “gender, we said, was an achieved status: that which is constructed through psychological, cultural, and social mean” (West and Zimmerman 1987, 125) - in other words, it is the categorization of both sex to act in a certain and acceptable way by the society, also known as norms) and can be recreated through human interaction and social life. All of this is being constructed by our environment; Inequality is being formed through identity. Everything all begins from when we are born. In society, it is believed that boys are tough while the women are believed to be soft and nurturing. There

Love is looked upon as a beautiful thing but within beauty lies darkness in South Africa. There is an unspoken violence against women going on within the communities of south Africa that is now coming to light; domestic violence. Husbands, not strangers or men with guns, are now the biggest threat to women in post-conflict South Africa, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee. Attacked beaten, abused, killed these are sometimes words to describe domestic violence. Domestic violence is defined as acts of physical, sexual and emotional violence inflicted against a woman by her intimate partner, spouse or lover. Domestic violence is far from new and is a never ending cycle of abuse. Most may think violence against women comes from a stranger or man the woman doesn’t know but instead in most cases it is caused by a loved one. In Fact globally, about every 1 in 3 women will experience violence during her lifetime, most of the time by an intimate partner. (Baleta 580) This type of violence is definitely gender based as majority of women experience domestic violence compared to men. Domestic Violence is a worldwide issue but today the focus is on Domestic violence against women in South Africa. Spreading all across South Africa domestic violence is happening to women at an alarming rate. A woman is killed by an intimate partner every eight hours in South Africa and over 65% of women have been assaulted according to a study

Correspondingly, it appears as the male subculture constitutes a form of oppression against women; however, some radical feminist argue women are merely objects to misogynistic men. According to Cameron and Frazer scientific perspective on sex murder, they believe women are defectively illustrated by male science as “deviant from sexuality” (Leyton). The contention of radical feminists in the prior decades have made it evident that “male violence is the law of misogyny” (Leyton). Hickey’s substantial 1991 database argued if

Aggression is seen through demonstration of masculinity and toughness (Cote, 2002). However in reality and empirical data do not support Cote’s statement, like in a study done in Philadelphia, where non-white females have homicide rates two to four times higher than the rates of white males as cited by Barkhuizen (2010). Due to stereotyping and the norms of the society, battery, abuse, and violence done to men are neglected and not treated as serious as battery on women.

In this paper we are discussing violence and masculinity, while focusing our research on a movie. We are going to go into how violence and masculinity relate to crimes and violence in society and will be discussing research from various sources to prove our hypotheses. Our group also did some of our own research with a survey that will later be discussed in the essay. Our movie that we chose to focus on is Taken, starring Liam Neeson. Our essay is going to look into how males have dominance over females since we live in a patriarchal society and how men are more prone to violence and that society aids in pushing violence into young boys.

The definition of masculinity shows young males that in order to be respected, power must be applied upon others and intimidation is the only method of gaining this respect. Through the use of this power and intimidation, females are often oppressed and kept under the control of men. Woman has need of the male in order to gain human dignity, to eat, to enjoy life, to procreate; it is through the service of sex that she gets these benefits; because she is confined to that function, she is wholly an instrumentality of exploitation (De Beauvoir, 360). Males use power over women to reassure their manliness and to portray their masculinity. This violence is not only present in households. It is also present in masculinity versus nature in a capitalist society, where the environment must be altered and destroyed for economic gains. It appears that violence against nature-that is, the impossible and disastrous drive to dominate and conquer the natural world-is integrally connected with domination among humans (Kaufman, 7). Another example of showing this power is through rape and sexual abuse. Through rape, men display their dominance in the most violent and gruesome ways. As Kaufman notes, in the testimonies of rapists on hears over and over again expressions of inferiority, powerlessness, anger (15). By committing this crime, males display their physical strength upon the victim and this is what masculinity is defined as, a display of power and

The purpose of this paper is to explore patriarchal values that reinforce violence towards women in intimate partner relationships. This paper argues that patriarchy and the social construction of masculinity reproduce male violence against women. The following sub-issues that that will be discussed are patriarchy, capitalism, the religion of Islam, and the construction of masculinity and femininity. All the sub-issues encompass patriarchy values which allows inmate partner violence.