God Without The Sacred
Symbolic violence is related to, and participates in systemic violence, but it refers more specifically to the violence of language. The patterns of social life that are encoded within our language are violent insofar as they presuppose and reify relations of domination. Any revolutionary knows that the first step towards revolution is the discovery of a new mode of language that names things differently. This practice of naming, when done in such a way as to dominate and control is a central form of violence operating at all levels of discourse in our world.
Gender roles are under-fire, both in the East and the West. With women bishops in the West & sexual violence in the East, we are in an era where femininity is seeking revolution on a global scale. Women desire not simply to have a voice or a platform but to be counted as equal in this historical ongoing on battle of the sexes. Now, more than ever, masculinity has an ethical responsibility to fight for the same equality. The gender divide is such a controversial issue and such a universalized one that it finds itself in every facet of society, more specifically and unsurprisingly so in the area of religious fundamentalism as has recently emerged in Israel.
Religious fundamentalism necessitates adherents who blindly follow the internal law of the group. This, being highly problematic due to its origins being steeped solely in a society that emerged out of patriarchy, demonstrates that religious fundamentalism across all religions must be challenged in light of the apparent shifts occurring in society-at-large. From re-defining familial structures to re-defining gender, marriage, immigration and even the infrastructure of international relations – the world is changing. Fundamentalism is here to make sure that while there are visible social changes, that there is a fundamental law that runs the course of human events. Although, we know this not to be the case, fundamentalists desire to be the very superego that dominates the mind of social progress.
But, I think we err if we simply look at the issue of modesty as solely an issue of patriarchy – this is also an issue of the perpetuation of power & domination over one’s individual identity in society. The fact that some communities in Israel are imposing laws upon girls as young as three years old stifles any hope for identity or even gender separation; meaning, these malleable young ladies grow up not as women, but as women defined through the gaze of men, patriarchy, masculine domination and power. Thereby believing that they can only be defined as women dependent upon men. The individual is dead.
Yet another example is found in the sexual violence perpetrated upon women in Egypt recently. From the frequency of sadistic rapes to women being forced to dress as men, these vulgar events have become commonplace in a city that used to be known as a place of enlightenment and progress. It is intriguing that the place where these obscene treacherous acts occur is one of the seats of enlightenment. The Enlightenment itself was not a bad period in history, it simply left things open-ended. It introduced us to new ideas, new trajectories but not necessarily with an end in sight. In doing so, it opened us up to infinite possibilities, along with infinite dangers. What this then signals to us is the all-too-important point that to truly progress as a humanity community, we must move beyond not only gender demarcations but also must adhere to a strict code that allows such progress to materialize.
Randa (afraid of giving her full name) goes for the vaguely preppie American look of tracksuit bottoms, polo shirt, baseball cap and trainers when she joins a demonstration. It means she can blend in with vast numbers of men and run away if anyone sees through her disguise. They seldom do: the anonymity of the crowd combined with the chaos and confusion of disorganised rallies serves her well, and besides, most of the main protests take place after dusk. Glasses and a slight build make her look particularly unthreatening.
What this means is that, although we are people who have genders, we must not let these gender identities dictate the social roles that each should/should not fulfill. In a perverse sense taken to its most extreme, what appears if we do not change anything is the pressupposition that as long as there are women, there will always be men who will want to rape them. As pessimistic as this sounds, does not even biblical history and the rape of Tamar demonstrate to us this very thing – that somehow identity itself is the very issue we must progress past to actually move on as a human community? It is not that these gender identities are not important, but as long as we live within the confines of metaphysical identity we will continually risk an uneven society. A simple example would be when someone claims there right to be heard as a woman [read quote above from Randa], but does so against the backdrop of a society steeped in patriarchy. All they are simply doing is basing their frustration and activism against the very thing they are attempting to free themselves from – thereby negating any true attempts to actually free themselves of their gender roles – they end up being consumed into the very roles they despise [I refer to this as: masculine feminism].
The message is clear: Women stay home, your input in government and politics is not wanted. In a country in which women’s virginity and honour is the sine qua none of female participation in society, rampant sexual harassment and sexual assault are the best way to accomplish the fervent belief of the government and the Muslim Brotherhood that women should stay inside their homes and out of the business of public life. Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch confirms that these serious crimes are to “hold women back from participating fully in the public life of Egypt at a critical point in the country’s development.
This role-based subjective violence can only be justified if something/someone bigger than the acts themselves are being perpetuated. If the government – the ordering body that helps streamline the activities, roles and identities of its citizens – is seen as being one who is defending this nefarious inequality – then to put in question such an institution is not simply to make a woman a radical, but also an enemy of the state. Its puts not just the role of the woman in jeopardy, but of all women – and ultimately solidifies patriarchy even deeper into the very fabric it is attempting to be rendered from. Men, must also be informed of their role and responsibilities in perpetuating such heinous crimes – not just challenging the place of the masculine in society, but even putting religious beliefs in question and to the test. The Muslim Brotherhood seeks equality for women, but at the expense of the woman, by speaking for the woman. The organization perpetrates its own type of violence by funneling its own definitions of gender roles and turning these roles into ethical responsibilities.
If the landscape is going to change in the West and the East, the most unassumingly yet simplistic shift is going to have to begin in the ways in which we define ourselves as humans and what those roles mean – and if we need them at all.
A way you can help:
Join Amnesty International France and send a letter in English or in French to the chef political parties in Egypt calling for action to end the unacceptable impunity of sexual violence against women and assure a protected space for women to protest.
This article is one in an ongoing series of some of the subjects that are explored and investigated in at Cross-Culture-Consultancy (click on the name to find out more)
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Book: Violence In America – Encyclopedia
Men’s Resources For Gender Equality
Hundreds of Sexual Assault on Women
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