Associating with Hegemonic Masculinity: Women Perpetuating Violence Against Women

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Violence, Gender, and Resistance

Abstract

Hegemonic masculinity is defined as a configuration of practices that seeks to uphold men’s domination and women’s subordination. However, very few studies have examined masculinities without men. Hegemonic masculinity has often been used to understand men’s role in domestic violence cases where they inflict violence against women. However, domestic violence cases in India provide a unique scenario where women inflict violence against other women. Even the domestic violence laws in India identify the husband’s relatives – including the mother-in-law – as potential perpetrators of violence against women. Using archival data on 164 domestic violence cases in India(Supreme Court) for the period 1995-2011, I examine how women engage in practices that uphold men’s domination over women, thus practicing hegemonic masculinity. Three themes emerged from the data. First, older women engage in associative hegemonic masculinity where they sustain their power by associating with men in their families, particularly their sons. Second, some women engaged in active or passive complicity to hegemonic masculinity by silently supporting these practices. Finally some women protested against hegemonic masculinity in their families by associating with other masculine forces such as the law and the state. These findings have implications for theory and practice. First, at the theoretical level, the analysis points to a broader understanding of hegemonic masculinity which legitimizes all forms of power inequality. This study has implications for gender as a theory of action by examining gender transgressions (such as the actions of the older women in Indian families) with a reflective understanding of power.

Author

• Preethi Krishnan, Purdue University