EDP 362T Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Sex Trafficking, Honor Killing, Rape Myth
Chapter 12 Review
Violence against girls and women: a global perspective
▪ Key factors:
o Nature of relationship
o Age of perp and victim
o Form that violence takes
▪ Pervasiveness of violence vs women = originates from sociocultural level of gender
system.
▪ Gender system and violence
o Often justified, condoned, overlooked.
o Many gov’t over look these violence acts, only recently tried to intervene.
o 1/3 women have been physically assaulted, coerced sexual activity, severe
emotional abuse.
o Rape/violent acts against women are widespread in war zones and refugee camps.
o Over ½ of all female murder victims are killed by current/former partner.
o Not all women experience direct violence, but threat of it is an important part of
fabric of life for all women.
o Being born female is dangerous for your health.
o Violence vs. women bound to social context of male domination and control.
Assertion of power and control men have over women.
▪ Rape-prone societies
o Status of women is strongly correlated with rates of violence vs women across
cultures.
o Self-reported rates of violence within relationships are strongly negatively
correlated with UN’s measure of gender empowerment (women most vulnerable
to abuse when have least power in societies).
o Rape-prone: occurrence of rape is high, connected to expressions of masculinity,
viewed as acceptable tool for punishing/controlling women.
▪ Significant percentage view women are expected to be passive and
submissive, endorse myth that place blame on women for sexual violence.
▪ Women unable to refuse sex, ask partners use condoms, prevent partners
from having sex with multiple people.
o Rape-free: rape and sexual aggression are rare bc value respect women, relative
balance in power b/w men and women.
▪ Honor killings and honor rapes
o Men’s honor tied to sexual purity and fidelity of women in families.
o Honor killings: when woman’s actions are thought to bring shame to male
relative, so kill her to restore honor.
▪ Dishonor: refuse arranged marriage, marry outside religion/caste, accused
of cheating, sexually assaulted/raped.
o Honor rape: tool of war, shame victim and her tribe
▪ Sex trafficking
o Patterns of trafficking are shaped by gender-related inequities in material
resources.
o Source countries: less developed/wealthy/politically stable, in contexts of extreme
poverty/gender inequality/limited choices that make families vulnerable.
find more resources at oneclass.com
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o Destination sites: richer countries.
o Hub countries: venues where women can be bought/sold by multinational
traffickers; have highly developed sex industries and powerful organized crime
sectors.
o Trafficking – violation of fundamental human rights of women and girls.
▪ Anti-trafficking legislation, edu programs for at risk people, int’l org to
end sex trade.
▪ Children violence: coercive sexual interaction b/w child and adult.
o Mostly family members and family friends, older male relatives/brothers/fathers
are leading abusers of girls in the family.
o Negatively and significantly impacted entire lives.
Violence and the media
▪ Language about violence
o Passive voice often used which deflects attention from perp of violence (woman is
raped), esp in mass media.
▪ Shows behavior enacted by a man isn’t actually blamed by him.
▪ Both men and women thought passive-voice stories on violence vs women
were more acceptable. Only men thought victim suffered less harm, and
perp was less responsible.
▪ Taking emphasis away from perp makes it harder to perceive him as
responsible for his behavior. Can have sexist effects.
▪ Gender violence as entertainment
o Violence vs female victim increased on TV 120%, most commonly beating.
o Children more exposed to violence in media, desensitizes people to rela violence
and builds schemas of world as dangerous/scary place where you have to be
aggressive to survive.
▪ Habitual playing of violent video games assoc with increases in physical
aggression 3-6 months later.
▪ Female characters in video games are rare but often shown as sex objects.
• Men who viewed stereotypical images of women from video
games were more tolerant of sexual harassment incident vs. those
who viewed neutral images.
▪ Violence treated as entertainment = viewed as more acceptable and less
harmful, reinforces that women are weak.
▪ Porn:
o Sexual explicitness of material doesn’t matter as much as sex presented in violent
context. Porn = violence, dehumanizing, degraded, abuse – mostly toward
women.
o Erotica: material that’s merely sexually arousing.
o Porn is pervasive: grew dramatically since 1990s, has been mainstreamed a lot.
o Is porn a form of violence vs women?
▪ Blatantly violent porno images of women are now documentation of actual
sexual violence/humiliation. Women in videos volunteered to be treated
this way, some coerced.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Only men thought victim suffered less harm, and perp was less responsible: taking emphasis away from perp makes it harder to perceive him as responsible for his behavior. Women in videos volunteered to be treated this way, some coerced: has negative effects on men"s attitudes and behaviors toward women. Ffe says porn can help women be more interested in sex experimentation. Violence vs children: child sexual abuse, girls more likely to be abused than boys. Family members/acquaintances responsible for 90% of child rape: abusive families are often emotionally distant and unaffactionated, strongly patriarchal, mother subservient, children obey without question, perp earn child"s love, treats her as special before abuse starts. Perp may convince child their relationship is special: may negatively affect many aspects of child"s emotional, cognitive, and social development. Intimate partner violence (ipv): occurs in all types of intimate relationships, including dating/married: dating violence, very common. More likely to sustain major emotional trauma and serious physical injuries.
