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POWER AND SEXUALITY (Sex and Gender Identity (Schilt and Westbrook's…
POWER AND SEXUALITY
Sex and Gender Identity
Disagreement whether male-on-female rape is an act of expressing patriarchal concepts of masculinity or whether it is in fact the opposite in that it "threatens the myth upon which modern manliness is constructed" (Bourke 2007: 417)
It is precisely this disagreement that allows scholars to explore women's role in patriarchal structures with regard to the concept of masculinities
Segal: "for many men it is precisely through sex that they experience their greatest uncertainties, dependence and deference in relation to women - in stark contrast, quite often, with their experience of authority and independence in the public world" (Segal in Mottier 2008: 73)
Following this argument, can we conceptualize male-on-female rape as an attempt to regain the power taken away from men in sexual relations
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Schilt and Westbrook's work on violence against trans individuals reveals the way in which men 'reclaim' their heterosexuality by emphasizing their masculinity through violence
Study showed a large number of men feeling their heterosexuality had been questioned by engaging in sexual relations with transwomen --> They then showed extreme violence towards these women in an attempt to establish their heterosexuality by engaging in what is considered to be highly 'masculine' behavior
Highlights the way in which (Western) patriarchal societies center their understanding of gender roles around (hetero)sexuality but it also once again shows why intimate relationships are a key site of resistance and feminist claims
Rape and Sexual Violence
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Women and Victimhood
Bourke links constant state of fear to overall conceptions of masculinity and femininity as well as gender dynamics (Bourke 2007)
Brownmiler: "women are trained to be rape victims. To simply learn the word 'rape' is to take instruction in the power relationship between males and females" (Brownmiller 1975: 309)
Bourke outlines how rape discourse has shifted it's emphasis from male danger to female vulnerability
Victim-blaming in discussions of male-on-female rape is an instance in which sexual relations become a site of feminist claims
Mardorossian identifies the attribution of responsibility to women as "a new form of panopticism, an interiorized and individualized system of surveillance by which every women becomes her own overseer" (Mardorossian in Bourke 2007)
Power and Resistance
Foucault: Power and resistance are fundamentally linked in that the existence of power structures always implies room for resistance
Power dynamics present in intimate relationships necessarily make personal relationships and sexual relations a site of resistance
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Embodiment of Power
Foucault: power is embodied when certain forms of behavior feel right to us, i.e,. when our bodies 'naturally' take on the correct position for a certain situation
Link between power structures and (women's) bodies places sexuality and sexual relations at the center of gender dynamics
Sexual relations or physical contact within personal relationships present ways in which interactions and dynamics between the sexes become embodied and naturalized
Language and Power
Not just the physical act of penetrative sex that represents an embodiment of power structures, but also the language used to describe personal and sexual relationships
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Simply the discussions around male-on-female rape and the actions women are taught to adopt in order to avoid such an experience are a form of the (self-)policing of women in a patriarchal manner
Intersectionality
Intimate relationships have become a particular site of feminist claims because they allow us to apply an intersectional method to structural debates that are prone to losing sight of individuals' experiences
Example: the ways in which race influences the discourse and narrative surrounding cases of rape highlights the need for intersectionality in feminist claims
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Crenshaw draws on Valerie Smith's work in highlighting how the narrative around a highly publicized case of a jogger raped in Centreal Park became intertwined with racist discourse through the dehumanizing language used to describe the rapist
She highlights the "devaluation of Black women and the marginalization of their sexual victimizations" (Crenshaw 1991: 1268)