SOC219H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Hot Natured, 6 Years, Against Our Will
SOC219; Lecture 9
Last class;
● The control and management of women inmates continues after their release from
prison
● Parole is based on risk (future probability of offending). It is a form of targeted
governance aimed at responsibilization women.
● There are several barriers that exist to re-entry such as untreated mental health issues,
parenting, income and the stigma
● Mass incarceration of Black men - negative impact on women and children
Gender Based Abuse
● “Offenders exertion of power over the victim” - power can take on many forms like
economic, physical, status, and aspects of authority. Typical crimes include: rape, sexual
abuse, intimate partner abuse, and human trafficking.
● Violence against women (common and invisible human rights violation in the world).
Much gendered abuse is not violent (ex. Stalking, sexual abuse) but the effects are very
negative. All violence against women is abuse, not all abuse is violent in nature.
● Gendered socialization
○ GBA increases the power and control of the offender, whilst decreasing it from
the victim
○ Such gendered socialization prepared men to be perpetrators and women to be
victims (as women are rewarded for being passive and dependant, whilst boys to
be aggressive). The media is accepting of women's abuse and mens controlling
and authoritative portrayal as well as their abuse
○ Little red riding hood… girls and women need to be both fearful and reliant on
men. Tells us that aggression is okay for boys in certain contexts. Teaches girls
to be fearful, but it does not teach boys to show restraint, be respectful, instead
be aggressive and violent - sensationalizing violence. Women should be fearful
of strangers and not drink alcohol, and if something bad happens to them, they
are often blamed for their victimization
○ Women are prepared to be victims based on the socializing of rule-following and
boys for perpetrators
● Gender inequality
○ Against Our Will - rape is a conscious process of intimidation by which all men
keep all women in a state of fear. Suggests that rape and gender based abuse
cause gender inequality, because it keeps women in subordinate positions
○ Scholars - perhaps gender inequality which cause rape and other forms of
gender based abuse - the fact that women are already in subordinate positions
makes it easier for them to become victims of rape
○ Perhaps reciprocal relationship - instead of seeing it as once or the other, in that
the disparity of power between men and women, we see it as a cause and
causing gender-based abuse
● Intersection of race/ethnicity and Class
○ Women of color - more likely to victimized, experience highest rates of violence
○ Indigenous and black man, displace their frustration and hatred onto their wives,
causing an influx in victimization. Women also downplay their victimization in
order to protect their partners and avoid further stereotyping of their community.
○ Despite having high levels of victimization - still not viewed as victims
■ Negative depictions of these women in the media, portray them as hot
natured and morally loose. Aboriginal women are portrayed as dirty and
lazy, very easily sexually exploited. This also explains why women of
color tend to be victimized as they are seen as not worthy and little
repercussions for abusers. Women of color blamed more for their
victimization in the CJS, putting pressure on women to take matters into
their own hands and can put them at risk of being arrested or receiving a
criminal charge. Women of color are not worthy victims and their stories
are not worth sharing or media coverage
○ More attention of black men as rapists - white men are not held as culpable and
black women victims are invisible
■ Origins of rape laws - protect upper class white men from having their
wives or daughters assaulted - not to help women really, but men who
were white and wealthy
■ Rape laws implied that women were men’s property and that offenders
were lower-class non-white men. These laws have changed but the
misconceptions continue to influence how the media reports GBA and
how the public perceives these issues and the decisions made by CJs
officials
Culture of Victim Blaming
● Just world belief - it is a belief that our environment is a just and orderly place and that
people get what they deserve - this assumption guides people into thinking that victims
of gender-based abuse are to blame - whether its because of the way they were
dressed, whether they were drunk, work as sex workers, etc.
○ It is the foundational principle of victim blaming and pulls peoples into a false
sense of safety because they think ‘it won't happen to me’ so long as i follow
traditional gender scripts and societal rules
● These victim-blaming ideologies reinforce rape myths - place blame on women and
victims on their own victimization based on ‘she was dressing too provocatively’, or ‘she
was drinking/doing drugs’ - she got what she deserves basically
○ Victims got what they deserve is a view held by BOTH men and women - they
are deeply entrenched and how we understand victimization and how we decide
who an appropriate victim is
● Creates a false sense of safety - only certain people will be victimized because of x, y, z;
if i just follow these prescribed rules i will be safe. But anyone is at risk of being
Document Summary
The control and management of women inmates continues after their release from prison. Parole is based on risk (future probability of offending). It is a form of targeted governance aimed at responsibilization women. There are several barriers that exist to re-entry such as untreated mental health issues, parenting, income and the stigma. Mass incarceration of black men - negative impact on women and children. Offenders exertion of power over the victim - power can take on many forms like economic, physical, status, and aspects of authority. Typical crimes include: rape, sexual abuse, intimate partner abuse, and human trafficking. Violence against women (common and invisible human rights violation in the world). Stalking, sexual abuse) but the effects are very negative. All violence against women is abuse, not all abuse is violent in nature. Gba increases the power and control of the offender, whilst decreasing it from the victim.
