The Male in The Women

Global Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Available online at www.gjms.co.
in
Volume 3, Issue 11, October 2014
ISSN: - 2348-0459
Impact Factor: 1.927

An international double – blind peer reviewed, refereed and Indexed Journal
THE ‘MALE’ IN THE WOMEN: A PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION OF WOMEN’S

VIOLENCE ON WOMEN
MANEESH RAI
Research Scholar, Department of English
Banaras Hindu University
ABSTRACT
Violence—the very term meets our consciousness with its various archetypal
agents like bloodshed, abuse and attack. The terms has gained importance in the
eyes of feminists who define it somewhat as any physical, sexual, verbal and
psychological violation of the rights and persona of women. The very brutality,
bloodshed and sexual tortures that women in the world face in their daily life
provide it maleness. In the current scenario and especially the last few months we
have come across the examples of the traditional form of violence against women.
Such a huge protest in the Delhi gang rape case, the amendments in the law and
the increased awareness of the media, all have put ‗Males‘ in the category of the
single, omnipotent and the most inhuman form of existence on the earth. But
apart from these much talked of traitors and violators of the rights of women who
are their universal opposites and perennial enemies there are others who use the
‗Male‘ as scapegoats while practicing this maleness wherever necessary. My paper
would concentrate on the psychological violence that women practice on their own
sexual-counterparts. But these forms of violence are categorically and strategically
kept out of the talks of media, politics, theory and society, while actually
demanding a lot of attention and serious remedies because women are ready to
fight against this ‗Maleness‘ that is tearing their identity apart while actually
getting a blow from inside. Beyond the one universal binary of Male/Female there
are binaries of multiple levels in the right side of this slash. If women want to do
away with the violence of man they will first have to develop what Judith Butler
calls a Sisterhood.
Keywords:-Binaries, Omnipotent and perennial.
Introduction feminism, femininity, radicalism and

many more issues, turning more into
Women and violence , the two most howls than a roar, as says their non-
mutually recurrent words have been, consequentialism and their discursive
since the theorizing of violence and the attacks on the males as being solely
beginnings of the debates over female, responsible for it. This I say being very
215
Global Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Available online at www.gjms.co.in
ISSN: - 2348-0459

thoughtful about the fact who this news channels, and even the most
male is for the females: is it some sex, widely connecting link web, have all
some gender, some race, something been, may be unintentionally, very
anti-female or some idea, discourse, much the mirrors to only one aspect of
thought or strategy? What women all the so called violence on women.
over the world have been trying to say Search the web and barely can one
is that the violator has a uniform face, find articles or books related to
a uniform identity and a uniform women‘s violence on women while
gender i.e. ‗male‘. And this is where presenting males as the only violators
the goals and agendas of the feminist of the women. What one gets is
movement face a setback. They don‘t something about the physical violence,
realize the fact that it is the maleness rape, assaults and abuses. There is a
and not exactly the male where the categorical silence on the level of
seeds of violence lie. Violence as such psychology. And when rarely
has no gender-base. It is rather an presented it is in context of the
instinct, a tool, more psychological psychological stress and consequences
than physical, used for the after the various forms of violence that
perpetuation of superiority, and thus have been talked earlier. Now there
may occur irrespective of sex, gender are two key terms, women and
or sexual orientation. Male/female is violence. Defining these two is quite a
not some airtight binary of the tedious task. Defining woman, Simon
violator/violated categorization. It may de Beauvoir says that one is not born
exist between male-male, female- a woman but becomes a woman
female, male-female or even those who clearly indicating that woman is not a
are at the margins of these two core- biological but a social construct. And
sexed categories. So this paper intends then violence is a sort of physical or
to show the maleness present in psychological suppression of someone
women that comes prior to the males or a group by someone else or other
as an agent of violence. groups based on differences that may
or may not arise out of sex, gender,
Role play by Media religion, race, ethnicity, colour, caste
or creed. Lacan said, ―I think where I
Coming first to the silences on am not therefore I am where I think
account of the major channels of not‖. So where is this think-not-space?
discourses and ideologies in the And how is it created? Here discussing
society, let‘s see the role played by the the case of the women, from being
various media in concretizing none to becoming a woman a girl is
thismaleness. Movies, newspapers, created in the image of her mother.
216
ISSN: - 2348-0459

The mother is the one who moulds the clear that patriarchy operates and
girl and makes her the part of this cannot do without these channels.
patriarchal setup where she acquires
the role of a woman. All the Frames the violence
behavioural and functional roles are
embedded into her. Her psychology is What frames the violence is
more created by her mother and by something important to be discussed.
the society where she is made to meet How is it constructed and guided? So
only those whom she can identify beneath these likenesses the people
herself with based on what she has have another aspect of behavioural
been told by the mother. She starts bases. In a particular society the
meeting everybody with an eye for people are not divided only in the
similarities and differences. basis of sex and gender rather their
Similarities primarily involve economic, religious, ethnic, racial, and
anatomical, phonic and behavioural other aspects also decide their
likeness. This makes her feel functions in a society. These aspects
comfortable with her likes while are functional on the level of
detaches her from others who have an consciousness that helps them wear a
anatomical, phonic and behavioural facade of being, say, the whites or rich
variant. Her consciousness is or owners or Americans or Christians.
something that she is in complete On the theoretical level much has
control of modulating herself been talked about something Judith
according to the conditions she Butler calls a universal sisterhood.
encounters as she cannot do without But is there any notion like this? The
it in the rapidly changing world order moment it comes to actual behaviour
but her unconscious makes her our consciousness guides us
maintain a distance from those unlike dominantly over the unconscious. An
her. The father of the girl is somebody American woman would practice her
not like her on the levels of sex and ethnic and racial superiority over an
gender, but even after that the girl‘s African woman. Similarly a very
final fate has to be decided by him. learned, sophisticated, bourgeois
The mother who created her in her woman considers herself in no way
own image now leaves it upon him to parallel to the unsophisticated rural
select one of his own types to take woman having the privileges of being
control of her remaining life. And able to speak in an alien tongue, to
perpetuate this patriarchal setup to wear non-traditional clothes, to use
the next generation. This makes it the special comforts of life. Sitting in
her ivory tower she is very much
217
ISSN: - 2348-0459

unaware of the realities of this concept of violence. The mass of women who
of sisterhood. She does not know that supported their leader fighting for
this segregation of these women from them is betrayed and finds itself weak
the mainstream suppressing them to enough to break into the power
the extent of silence and acceptance of chamber where she is sitting. This
their superiority is a kind of violence, creates a psychological unrest and
a psychological one where the violated disbelief thereby leading to non-co-
woman either has to reject the operation among the others. They
privileges or can have a very close look think it better to be battered by their
on them by being the servants or male counterparts than to be cheated
maids or caretakers etc. in the house by their female well- wishers.
of the privileged. This deliberate 2.The third form of violence is related
segregation of women is a form of to the generation gap and the gap it
structural violence thereby creates in ideologies. The elder
permanently pushing them to women, I mean to say the older
marginal spaces. generation had surrendered itself to
1.Let‘s move on to another form of the patriarchal norms and thus any
Violence. Whenever in a particular deviation from that normativity is not
social setup a feminist movement for acceptable to them. The new and
the rights of women is started it younger generation has its own way
becomes very praiseworthy and a few of living. Recent criticisms and
females catch hold of the whole analyses in the Delhi Gang rape-Case
situation making others believe that has put forward the two different
they are their integral parts and will responses from the women folk of
fight for their upliftment. They are India: the younger generation held
uplifted to the chairperson of some the rapists completely responsible
feminist institution and become a part for the brutality incurred upon that
of the channels of oppression. All her girl. They were all sympathetic
social concerns for sexual likes vanish. towards the girl and took it as a
What remains is the formation of brutality against themselves, their
agendas and laws for women security, freedom, their expression of their
safety and empowerment. For example choices. While the older generation
those who have a single girl child are held the girl also responsible to
getting some kind of economic certain extent in that she should not
support. And thus are segregated from have been roaming in the night with
those who have two children and both the boy, she should have returned
females. These minute levels of home, and that this is what happens
hierarchy are knit with multiple form when one is given freedom and that
218
ISSN: - 2348-0459

very moment they start comparing there are many different forms of
their times with ours. Instead of violence against women, they
thinking to fight for the girl and nonetheless often share certain
demand justice for her they finally characteristics. For example, most
end up justifying that the patriarchal forms of violence, including intimate-
order of men for field and women for partner violence, child sexual abuse,
hearth, saying as if what was done and much non-partner sexual abuse
was right because she did not do not occur as unique incidents, but
conform to the patriarchal norms. are ongoing over time, even over
This kind of thought process where decades. Often, the woman not only
the women themselves accept to live knows the perpetrator before the first
in the encapsulated world of incident, but might live with or
malecentricism weakens any demand interact regularly with him. Also
of a free space. Males are neither particular to most forms of violence
universal saviours nor universal against women is the way in which
victimizers but they are portrayed as society attributes blame to female
such due to the acceptance on victims. Women experiencing intimate
account of the women. Earlier when partner violence, for example, are
our society was framed with various frequently accused of having provoked
rules for the various sexes by, as the the violence by their disobedience,
discourses say, males all the women failure as a wife, or infidelity. Girls or
abided to them because that was women who have been sexually
considered to be in accordance with assaulted or raped are frequently said
the Dharma and it is not the male to have ―asked for it‖ by the way they
who did it all by his dominance but were dressed or behaved—even when
the females who also contributed a lot the victim is a child.
first through their acceptance and In countries such as China,
then through the unnecessary cry Taiwan, South Korea, India, Pakistan,
while actually politicizing the and some sub- Saharan African
agendas. countries the ratio of men to women is
Women themselves frequently higher than would be expected from
do not challenge accepted norms of the typical sex ratio at birth and the
female behaviour because of the fear typical differential mortality. High
of being attacked or raped. Thus, female mortality rates resulting from
women's unequal status helps to sex-selective abortion, female
create their vulnerability to violence, infanticide, and systematic and often
which in turn fuels the violence fatal neglect of the health and
perpetrated against them. Although nutritional needs of girls cause this
219
ISSN: - 2348-0459

demographic inequality. To a great become respectable. Similar is the

extent the female thought is case with the abused women. They
responsible for it. They don‘t need a have become impure, because the
girl they want someone who could hymen (symbol of chastity) is no more
carry their names forward not intact. So they have lost all their
understanding the fact that titles are values in the eyes of not only the male
not gender specific and the girls can world but also in their female friends.
do it either. Here I will support my observation
I must take the case of prostitutes, with the media projection of the
and the abused women. These are the things. Take the case of the porn star
most neglected categories. One must Sunny Leone. She has not done any
admit that not everyone is a prostitute porn work in India, and has actually
by choice; rather most are compelled given the Bollywood a big hit. She has
by conditions. In the tribal been accepted by the elites but the
communities in India we find the lack general conceptions are still analysing
of even the minimum literacy. They her from the point of view of a porn
usually have a number of children. In star. Even if one wants to distain the
such communities we come across the image the female along with the males
instances of incest even. Now they won‘t let her do it. Secondly take the
can‘t do anything without money in case of the movie Kya Kehna where
this age of what Marx said economic the amateur girl PreityZinta becomes
determinism. They are unskilled, pregnant prior to marriage, and the
devoid of any natural or ancestral whole perspective of her very close
assets. So the only thing that can friends, her parents and her relatives
fetch them money is their body. changes. This is the violence, the
Women in such communities sell psychological one that permanently
themselves and become prostitutes. impairs the women having an even
But nobody goes to see the deeper impact than epistemic,
compulsions beneath. Everyone has to structural or systemic violence and the
do with the fact that she is a violators, the females should in no way
prostitute. So she is not respectable be held less responsible than the
like them. Any contact with them is males.
going to be a kind of stain to their Conclusion
respectable name. And this leads to Conclusively I should say that
the categorical segregation of the women know men as their violators, so
prostitutes from all the possibilities may have and are actually having
and scopes of being normal. Even if remedies and strategies for it, but
she becomes rich, she does not the greater danger is when
220
ISSN: - 2348-0459

this‗maleness‘ operates through this 6. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstrea

other channel i.e. the women m/10665/77432/1/WHO_RHR_1
themselves. The one whom you trust 2.36_eng.pdf
to be theoretically your universal 7. Renzetti, C. M. and C. H. Miley
sisters are actually not so. And there (1996). Violence in Gay and
lies the seed of failure of your sincere Lesbian Domestic Partnerships.
efforts to combat Patriarchy. This Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56023-
patriarchy is physically violent and 074-6. OCLC 33947252.
curable in case of males but 8. Johnson, M. P.; Ferraro, K. J.
psychologically violent and incurable (2000). "Research on Domestic
in case of women. So the need is to Violence in the 1990s: Making
actually establish and ensure a Distinctions". Journal of Marriage
universal sisterhood against the and Family 62 (4):
patriarchy. 948.doi:10.1111/j.1741-
3737.2000.00948.x.
Reference 9. Domestic Violence. Merriam
Webster. Retrieved 14 Nov. 2011.
1. Child marriages: 39 000 every
day. WHO. 7 March 2013.
Retrieved 11 April 2014.
2. Markowitz, Sara (2000). "The
Price of Alcohol, Wife Abuse, and
Husband Abuse". Southern
Economic Journal 67 (2): 279–
303. doi:10.2307/1061471.JSTO
R 1061471.
3. b Dutton DG (1994). "Patriarchy
and wife assault: The ecological
fallacy".Violence and victims 9 (2):
167–182. PMID 7696196.
4. http://www.who.int/violence_inju
ry_prevention/violence/world_rep
ort/en/full_en.pdf?ua=1
5. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstrea
m/10665/77432/1/WHO_RHR_1
2.36_eng.pdf?ua=1
221

The Male in The Women

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Male in The Women

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Male in The Women

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Global Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Available online at www.gjms.co.

Impact Factor: 1.927