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Gender-based violence and masculinity in Namibia: a structuralist framing of the debate
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Edwards-Jauch, Lucy |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | Gender-based violence in Namibia is pervasive and solutions to it remain elusive. How we address the problem depends on how we frame it. Gender-based is directly linked to unequal relationships of power and do not stand in isolation of structural and cultural violence in our society. There is a long history of gender inequality and gender-based violence that is deeply imbedded in Namibia’s history. Colonialism was violent and its eff ects still structures representations of masculinity. It has shaped violent hegemonic and subaltern masculinities. There is also a history of gender-based violence embedded in traditional African patriarchy that is often denied. Gender-based violence should not be sought in the biological or psychological essences of individual perpetrators but, instead, in the nature of our society, our histories and ethnographies of violence. This article locates gender-based violence in a social-historical context and seeks to illuminate some of the intersections between violent masculinities, gender, race and class. Introduction Gender-based violence is not just about women, but about relations of power between men and women that stem from relations of power in our society. In our discussions of gender-based violence we generally express outrage about the high levels of direct violence against women. Violence against women remains a pervasive problem in Namibia. It is an outcome of violence in society that predates colonial times. At the centre of genderbased violence is the unequal distributions of power. These unequal distributions of power impact on gender relations and representations of masculinity. The legal and policy frameworks developed to respond to gender-based violence have so far not stemmed the tide. How we seek to solve the problem depends on how we frame the problem. Often the answers are sought in the biology and psychology of men. Men are not born violent and neither are they inherently so. The magnitude of gender-based violence indicates that it is far from being a question of the occasional individual deviant who commits anti-social acts of aggression against an individual female. Gender-based violence aff ects large numbers of people. Therefore our explanations of gender-based violence should not be sought in the biological or psychological essences of individual perpetrators but, instead, in the nature of our society, our histories and ethnographies of violence. Our discussion on gender-based violence and masculinity should also illuminate the intersections between gender, race, class, ethnicity and sexuality to enable us to see how these intersections work. They bring about similarities and diff erences in the exercise of patriarchal power and the diff erent representations and performance of masculinity. For these reasons, this article calls for a broader defi nition of violence in general and gender-based violence in particular to incorporate the structural, cultural and direct dimensions of violence. Together, this triad of factors creates a culture of violence and it is this culture that should be the focus of the debate. *Dr Lucy Edwards-Jauch lectures in the Department of Sociology at the University of Namibia. E-mail: ledwards@unam.na |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://repository.unam.edu.na/bitstream/handle/11070/1828/Edwards-Jauch_Gender_2016.pdf?sequence=1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
