Early in the morning, got up and have a lot of coffee to get to the colloque international sur les violences faites aux femmes which is taking place in Montreal from 22nd to 24th october. The place is big, a luxurious hotel in the old city center, full of women and a few men. I want to get in the workshop on intervention with violences within lesbian couples (all workshops on lesbian issues are starting at 8 in the morning, don't know of any lesbian getting up so early). This subjet arouses the problematic issue for feminism of violent women and of women being violent against other women. Violence is not a gendered biological characteristic but a structural element of society system. That is, that in theory any woman may be as violent as any man, but in the practice, men have been taught to and are pushed to be violent by a heteropatriarchal society more that women have. Fathers are proud when small boys get in a fight, for a long time war and the military have been exclusively male, and most people still think than men are more able to physical action than women do.
For many feminists violence is male. Violence is not male, violence is a gender attribute that society has imposed to men and on anyone having the role of superior within a relationship with other people. For me violence is linked to superiority, anyone who feels and who acts superior may be physically violent and is already psychologically violent to the other person taking the role of inferior. Our society is built on a system of superior-inferior, more-less, man-woman, adult-child, wasp-anyother, abile-disabled, rich-poor, do u need more examples?. I'm not talking here about temporary roles, but of every day roles which haven't been consciously assume by both parts.
So violent lesbians, yes i do agree, women can be violent and lesbians can be violent when they take this superior role.
But....
I left my blue bike against a street light,
fuck, what is all this crap?
ok, the largest masculinist group in montreal (fathers 4 justice, they are 7, wow) went on to convince the world that they are victims of violence by women. Sorry guys but I still think that being a woman is so much dangerous than being a man because this is a mens' society. Women dont't need to be or have been battered to be everyday the victims of street attacks, harassment, sexual "obligations", family preassure, poverty, beauty codes, psychological stress and lowers self-confidence.
Masculinism is not a questioning of the heteropatriarchal system, but the fear of some wasp of loosing their privileges against feminist and queer fights.
