Crime, Culture and Violence by Katie Seidler

Author:Katie Seidler [Seidler, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology
ISBN: 9781921513565
Google: SQXGSAAACAAJ
Publisher: Australian Academic Press
Published: 2010-01-15T04:00:23+00:00

Providing Sexual Access to Women

Masculinity is defined not only in reference to other masculinities, but also with respect to extant femininities (Connell, 1995; Mullins, 2006), which provide a set reference point with which to understand masculinity. Men who engage in violent practices tend to hold stereotypical views on gender (Jenkins, 1990) and they may experience threats to the accomplishment of gender from women. This can lead to men perpetrating violence on women (James et al., 2002).

Hegemonic discourses on masculinity thereby dictate certain ways of interacting between men, but also between men and women, in addition to providing men with particular ways of understanding and relating to women. Subscribing to stereotypical masculinity encourages the sexualisation (and objectification) of women, who are seen as vehicles through which men can achieve masculinity via sexual conquest and prowess (Kimmel, 1993; Miedzian, 1993; O’Sullivan, 1993). In other words, the sociocultural meanings of sexuality that are constructed within the dominant culture in this country (and other such individualist cultures) contribute to the performance of masculinity associated with sexual aggression and sexual violence.

Iash draws on these discourses of women in discussion of his attitude towards the Skaf gang rapes. These rapes are those that were perpetrated in the year 2000 by Bilal Skaf, several of his brothers and also other youths from their local community. Skaf is a Middle-Eastern Muslim and these rapes created public angst about the suggested inherent criminality and abusive nature of Middle-Eastern and Muslim men.

Iash (Lebanese): The biggest stuff up in the Lebanese community in the last 5 years was these Bil Skaf people, you know what I mean? Like don’t get me wrong, like when I was younger, of course, I had plenty [emphasised] of girls … where yeah they’ll come and want to do things … with me and my friend — you know, at the same time sometimes, this and that and they’d walk away and be happy, you know what I mean? But it’s all about the way you treat them after you’ve finished … that’s what it’s all about, the way you treat them kind of girls after [emphasised] you’ve finished. You can’t treat them like … what they did, they took her out to the Bankstown Sports Club and washed her down with a hose and that, that stuff’s disgusting mate, you know? Like that’s someone’s daughter you’re talking about there … Like when I was younger … my father always [emphasised] taught me to show respect for women … because of my daughters, because of my sisters and my mother, because it’s someone’s mother and sister, mate … and he always taught me, always sit and make sure you show respect for them, ‘cause he knew, you know, he knew we were going to have girls, he didn’t like it but he knew they were going to be there because of what we were doing.

Even though the superficial rhetorical impact of Iash’s comments serve to distance himself from the rapists and eschew their criminal behaviour, Iash,

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