LETTER | Violence against women: a non-domestic perspective
LETTER | We often read or hear of violence against women within their home environment. We are aware of the physical, mental, psychological, and sexual violence the female gender is subjected to within their supposedly safe home.
Most often we are not surprised that such violence occurs and recurs since the various preventive and curative measures undertaken are not always effective. While much attention is given to domestic violence, not much is discussed about violence against the female gender within social, professional, and political contexts.
LETTER | We often read or hear of violence against women within their home environment. We are aware of the physical, mental, psychological, and sexual violence the female gender is subjected to within their supposedly safe home.
Most often we are not surprised that such violence occurs and recurs since the various preventive and curative measures undertaken are not always effective. While much attention is given to domestic violence, not much is discussed about violence against the female gender within social, professional, and political contexts.
We have heard of rape jokes shared by male celebrities in the media, made viral by their audience and fans, that received divided responses from both genders.
The outrage that results from such jokes is usually dealt with, with a half-hearted, non-committed, lame apology which isn’t an apology but an attempt at mansplaining the “misconstrued, misunderstood” jokes that were “taken out of context” by “over-sensitive” female members of the audience and fans.
We have been outraged by ugly sexist remarks made by male politicians in the parliament as responses to comments and queries made by their female counterparts.
Demands for retraction and apology for the uncalled-for remarks are often reciprocated with feeble attempts at an apology that almost always steer the incident to “misconstruction, misunderstanding of the misogynistic comments or worse still, accusation that the politician is targeted for character assassination by his political opponents.
In the social setting, for some men who seek to be acquainted with single, professional women, claiming deep attraction to the women’s eloquence, independence, intellect, and confidence by which they carry themselves in the social and professional world, have deeper, more sinister motive than mere romantic or sexual inclination that unravels itself as the relationship progresses.
Violence against a woman is not always in subjecting her to physical pain, traces of which are observable but also the unseen violence realized via attitude and words.
Contempt and envy, prohibition of her being, thinking and acting like herself, isolating her and insinuating that she is unworthy due to the same traits that the man claimed to have attracted him to her in the first place or silently and gradually withdrawing from her and ostracizing her completely without offering any explanation, throw her into a state of confusion, and unhappiness, distract her from her work and other responsibilities and adversely affect her confidence.
Violence of this nature is for the man to enjoy a sense of power over the female gender and for the man, it can only be achieved by disempowering the woman whom he perceives as “powerful”.
All these sexist, chauvinistic behaviours can be translated to the male gender’s insecurity rising out of several reasons.
Firstly, their past and current dysfunctional relationships with women in their immediate environment.
Secondly, the awe and envy of the modern-day female gender’s position as confident and courageous, thinking and speaking as opinionated individuals- traits which the men themselves are unable to develop, sustain and display, as well as their inability to see the female gender beyond her biological and social construct as a woman, a child-bearer, and an object of sexual desire.
Instead of accepting women as partners, the other half, a collaborator, a completing and complementing presence, these men see the female gender as their contender, their opponent.
I do not have any advice for these men but I do have one for their potential targets. The signs will all be there. Just get up and run as far as you possibly can from them.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
