Structural Supports for Violence Against Women (From Violence Against Women: The Bloody Footprints, P 79-83, 1993, Pauline B. Bart, Eileen Geil Moran, eds. - See NCJ-143961)

• NCJ Number: 143967
• Author(s): P B Bart; E G Moran
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines the ways in which societal organizations such as religious and medical institutions and fraternities provide structural support for the abuse of women.

Abstract

The discussion notes that the violence and abuse that men perpetrate against women and girls is rooted in a tradition of male supremacy encouraging males to hate females and regard them as inferior. The institutionalization of male supremacy means that individual men are not consciously trying to harm women. One chapter examines the sexual exploitation of black women from slavery to the present and addresses the integration of sex, race, and class in maintaining social inequality. Other chapters reveal that the abuse of women is structurally supported in religious and medical as well as social institutions. Some of these articles identify the social contexts within groups and institutions that support the subordination of women through violent assaults and murder. The chapters reveal how male dominance, once established, is structured into the daily operations of institutions and that ideologies develop to justify the existing arrangements. The analysis concludes that the civil rights and feminist movements have challenged the privileges of white men with only limited success. 2 references