Violence in society

Nov 11, 2024 Editorial, News

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…Editorial

Kaieteur News- Violence against women by men in our society continues unabated: molestations, beatings, rapes, maiming and murders of women of all ages, social strata and races are now practically daily staples of our media.

That the same pattern may be discerned in so many other social orders does not in any way make the phenomenon any less reprehensible but, as a matter of fact, suggests that its causes may lie deep in the male psyche itself.

Violence against women – particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence – is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights. Estimates published by the World Health Organisation indicate that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Most of this violence is intimate partner violence. Worldwide, almost one third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner.

Violence can negatively affect women’s physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health, and may increase the risk of acquiring HIV in some settings. Violence against women is preventable. The health sector has an important role to play to provide comprehensive health care to women subjected to violence, and as an entry point for referring women to other support services they may need.

Efforts by our authorities to deal with the problem of male-against-female violence – either in domestic settings or in more anonymous random and brutal encounters – unfortunately confront the consequences and not the deeper causes of the acts. The result is bound to be frustrating for the powers that be while deepening the cynicism of women that anything can be done to resolve the situation. There are, of course, several theories about why men on the whole are more violent than women and these are all essentially variants of the “nature and nurture” arguments.
Since it does not appear likely that genetic reengineering of the male human on the near horizon, we will have to revisit the “nurture” arguments – how the male psyche is formed and why it is so violence prone and misogynic.
In other words, we will have to re-examine and hopefully come up with initiatives to alter our conceptions of what “manhood” ought to be. Going back to the hoary theories about the early specialisation of the stronger male in the violent art of hunting other animals for food, we continue to inculcate in men the belief that they need to be tough, to prove their physical strength and never show emotions.
This is the “macho man” ideal. In our own Caribbean setting, this ideal was exacerbated in the brutal world of slavery and bonded labour. In the post-emancipation milieu, the best that we accomplished in modifying this image was to define “manhood” as a description of a man who was capable, managed his household and had a strong sense of respect and respectability. Men were expected to be the providers and protectors and who were self-sufficient.
This orientation was most inculcated in the middle classes but of recent, the scions of these classes have made a U-turn and rejoined the underclass outlook that ‘manhood’ means someone who is tough; a player; competitive, acting as a protector and a virile male. Men learn to deny their emotions and focus all their needs regarding physical affection and nurturing into the sex act. It is not surprising that, in the words of one researcher, they become “both emotionally incompetent and emotionally constipated.”
“Manhood”, however, is still associated with power which, because of our oppressive past, is seen as capacity to dominate, to control, capacity to act in “masterful” ways – especially with women.
The bequeathed image of “woman”, unfortunately was that of a concubine, dedicated to serving the whims of the “master” – especially bearing and rearing his children.

As a society influenced by the patriarchal structure, we still unrealistically hang on to the traditional definition of what it means to be a man irrespective of the high unemployment rate and weakened traditional values, compounded by the increase of the number of women who are educated. Men turn to violence against women as their sense of “manhood” is threatened by changes in the status quo – and the latter process is occurring at an ever-increasing pace. In addition to redefining what “manhood” means in our society, especially as it relates to women, we will however have to devise ways for men to maintain their masculinity and to sustain their self-esteem.

(Violence in society)

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• Editorial, murders of women, phenomenon, sexual violence, social orders

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