Such things rarely endure more than a generation after they cease to
be functional for the culture.
There are 6 billion people in the world. Even if the figures you
cited are correct it's a small percentage, and geographically and
culturally fairly demarcated. The same, of course, could be said for
ebola. I'm not trying to dismiss the problem. Even if there were only
one case it shouldn't be tolerated.
In the meantime, I think it helps if we allow people their dignity,
even if it means assigning to them a role more active than
"internalizing sexism." The term "patriarchal society" has been
greatly stretched beyond its anthropological meaning--in fact,
anthropologists rarely use it, and then only with many modifiers. All
societies are cooperative ventures. Even those where power seems
concentrated in one gender upon closer examination appear to divide
authority according to function. So, in many of the societies
apparently most repressive to women, within the freedom of purdah
women account for much of the commercial activity. As they did in the
Jewish culture of the shtetl, which, like all Mediterranean cultures,
was broadly "matriarchal" within the family.
What I'm getting at is that the practice becomes an issue only when
it it's begun to cease to be functional for men, and also for women,
or when looked at from the outside. That it can be looked at from the
outside is in itself an instrument of its becoming dysfunctional.
I used to ask the same kind of questions when I worked as a family
therapist. When there was violence I wanted to know not only what the
man got out of it, but also the woman--in most cases that I dealt
with the woman had other options. Even my asking the questions often
gave women I worked with the power to change their situations.
Mark
At 04:34 PM 3/30/2006, you wrote:
> > It's a matter of understanding why, Tina. I don't think that "fear of
> > female sexuality" quite does it.
>
>Maybe it doesn't. But such a level of ritualised brutality, spread so
>geographically far... and of course it is normally women that mutilate
>women (often family members) which helps to maintain the practice as
>'normal' and not a direct product of a patriarchal society. Women are very
>adept at internalising sexism.
>
>Tina
|