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Colonial sexual violence in North America refers to the systems put in place by Europeans through settler colonialism that enforces gender divides, support sexual exploitation, and use patriarchy as a means to control the Indigenous population. [1] These systems not only affected men, women, and two-spirit people differently, but disrupted traditional ways of living in a negative manner which thus removed their identity. [2] As settler colonialism is an ongoing effort, these systems have remained in place and continue to perpetrate harm today as seen through generational trauma related to the residential school system, MMIW, and the Indian Act. Indigenous scholars emphasize the need for community healing and traditional practices to heal the collective traumas, and experiences of sexual violence, enacted through settler colonialism.
Patriarchal systems are designed to keep an unequal power imbalance in society. This power imbalance favours men and disenfranchises women, making them second-class citizens. Patriarchal systems are designed to benefit cis-gendered white men; patriarchal systems intersect with identities such as race, sexual orientation and ethnicity. [3] These ideas on how humans should organize themselves blend into political, social and religious teachings and shape how an individual sees themselves within society. These systems can only function when the majority share and participate in a common ideology; everyone participates in the patriarchy regardless of their race or gender. [4] When Europeans colonized North America, they arrived with pre-existing social organizations and enforced them through violence. [3]
Patriarchal systems develop male-centric ideologies on sex, gender and gender representations, men decided how the world should be, rather than looking to others and their experiences. [4] This system stresses the importance of gender roles, how a man is to look, think, and feel become opposite to that of a woman. Patriarchy is present in every sphere of human life and can control aspects of life outside the social. [4] The patriarchy also plays strongly into what is considered desirable in women. Within this system, a good woman is a godly woman who stays home and provides motherly care for her children. She is pure and obedient to her husband and shares in his religious and political beliefs. [4] This hierarchy is essential for control, and within patriarchal systems, one has varying levels of control. For example, a white woman living in England has more control than a woman of non-European descent. This is very important for understanding how this oppressive system affected colonized people in the past as well as in the present.
Colonial sexual violence affected men in different ways than it affected women. In many traditional Indigenous societies, the man's role was to provide for and protect their communities which gave them an identity. [2] Skills in these areas were taught and performed by young men, and their successes were celebrated by older male role models. This created a positive sense of masculinity and manhood within Indigenous communities grounded in traditional Indigenous beliefs such as kindness, community, and equality. [2] When European systems were forced onto Indigenous groups their ways of life and identity changed to conform with European ideals. [5]
Patriarchal systems, heteronormative ideals, and race science introduced by European colonizers were used to differentiate between the "civilized" European and the Indigenous "other". [6] Colonial masculinity, masculinity rooted in violence, conquest, and superiority, was only able to exist because there was an “other” to socially dominate. Indigenous masculinity was considered weak because of the sexual perversions that it allowed and this was used to create an image of Indigenous people as inhuman and justify the violence perpetrated against them. [5] Implementing these systems disempowered Indigenous men and the adoption of colonial masculinity allowed for the acceptance of sexual violence in Indigenous communities because women no longer had the power to protect themselves and men were trying to prove their masculinity was on par with the colonizers. [7]
Many scholars comment on the strong connection between colonialism and rape. Some argue that rape was uncommon among Indigenous communities before the arrival of Europeans. [8] This has to do with the patriarchal society that Europeans enforced onto many Indigenous communities and the change from Indigenous matriarchs to Indigenous patriarchs. The patriarchy of Europeans promoted the idea of nudity with sexuality; therefore Indigenous women were seen as lewd and impure. [8] Sexual violence against Indigenous women ties in closely with the need for control and power: when an Indigenous woman is raped it is seen as permissible and necessary due to the understanding that Indigenous women are less than white women and bordering on inhuman. [9] There were many instances where colonists openly proclaimed that Indigenous women were sinful and that there was no such thing as a virtuous Indigenous woman.
Sexual violence was also used as a way further instill control over, and divide, Indigenous and white women. By creating narratives of the murderous Indigenous man, white men were able to demonstrate their superiority over and further dehumanize Indigenous people. [9] This has continued into the present day: Indigenous women are raped twice as often as any other minority group. [9] Studies have also proven that most of these rapes are committed by white assailants. [8]
Emotions were weaponized beginning in the 1960s to create internalized colonialism and control Indigenous populations through inward control and shame, rather than physically violent acts. [1] Through forced enrollment in residential schools, Indigenous children were taught that their culture, beliefs, and ways of being were wrong and that only conforming to whiteness would save them from their uncivilized ways of living and knowing. [1] This turned children against themselves and their communities through identity stripping and brainwashing. Children who were subjected to the residential school system came to feel ashamed of who they were due to teachings that were acts of cultural genocide. The hierarchy of power was deeply engrained in the minds of Indigenous children, with dominant societal views reiterating the idea that Indigeneity was shameful and less than others. [1] Assimilation was framed as the only way to move forward and be an acceptable and accepted citizen. [6]
Within these schools, sexual abuse was widespread and served as discipline as well as social teachings regarding their place in the world. Sexual abuse removed their bodily autonomy, reinforcing that they have little say in their own lives, and created the narrative that they exist to please others. [1]
Abuse stemming from residential schools continues to be seen today through generational trauma and continued cycles of abuse. This further harms Indigenous people as it shows itself as addictions, broken families, lack of community or family connection, shame, and cultural distance.
Indigenous scholars agree that combatting the continued colonial sexual violence must be done collectively as a community and encompass traditional Indigenous healing practices. There are continued challenges for Indigenous people due to racism and the resistance from society to accept two-spirit and queer people. [10] Racism and heteropatriarchy were built together and rely on one another to continue existing, creating, and upholding that idea of "other" within society. As Tompson Highway explains, "if the colonial project was to succeed, we are not supposed to be here" showing the resilience that Indigenous communities hold and the steps being taken towards accepting two-spirit people and decolonizing sex, love, and gender within their communities despite the cultural genocide enacted. [10]
Geraldine King speaks of the need to reconnect to the land, community, and ceremony to break the cycle of collective trauma and cultivate love. [11]
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other social divisions such as in race, class, and sexual orientation. The ideology and movement emerged in the 1960s.
Pro-feminism refers to support of the cause of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who actively support feminism and its efforts to bring about the political, economic, cultural, personal, and social equality of women with men. A number of pro-feminist men are involved in political activism, most often in the areas of gender equality, women's rights, and ending violence against women.
Sociology of gender is a prominent subfield of sociology. Social interaction directly correlated with sociology regarding social structure. One of the most important social structures is status. This is determined based on position that an individual possesses which effects how they will be treated by society. One of the most important statuses an individual claims is gender. Public discourse and the academic literature generally use the term gender for the perceived or projected (self-identified) masculinity or femininity of a person.
Hypermasculinity is a psychological and sociological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and human male sexuality. Within psychology, this term has been used ever since the publication of research by Donald L. Mosher and Mark Sirkin in 1984. Mosher and Sirkin operationally define hypermasculinity or the "macho personality" as consisting of three variables:
Machismo is the sense of being "manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as having pride in one's masculinity. While the term is associated with "a man's responsibility to provide for, protect, and defend his family", machismo is strongly and consistently associated with dominance, aggression, exhibition, and nurturance. The correlation to machismo is found to be deeply rooted in family dynamics and culture.
We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity is a 2004 book about masculinity by feminist author bell hooks. It collects ten essays on black men. The title alludes to Gwendolyn Brooks' 1959 poem "We Real Cool". The essays are intended to provide cultural criticism and solutions to the problems she identifies.
African feminism includes theories and movements which specifically address the experiences and needs of continental African women. From a western perspective, these theories and movements fall under the umbrella label of Feminism, but it is important to note that many branches of African "feminism" actually resist this categorization. African women have been engaged in gender struggle since long before the existence of the western-inspired label "African feminism," and this history is often neglected. Despite this caveat, this page will use the term feminism with regard to African theories and movements in order to fit into a relevant network of existing Wikipedia pages on global feminism. Because Africa is not a monolith, no single feminist theory or movement reflects the entire range of experiences African women have. African feminist theories are sometimes aligned, in dialogue, or in conflict with Black Feminism or African womanism. This page covers general principles of African feminism, several distinct theories, and a few examples of feminist movements and theories in various African countries.
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males and in feminist theory where it is used to describe broad social structures in which men dominate over women and children. In these theories it is often extended to a variety of manifestations in which men have social privileges over others causing exploitation or oppression, such as through male dominance of moral authority and control of property. Patriarchal societies can be patrilineal or matrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male or female lineage respectively.
Violence against women in the Philippines includes different forms of gender-based violence. The term "violence against women" is "the word or concept (that) has been used in a broad, inclusive manner to encompass verbal abuse, intimidation, physical harassment, homicide, sexual assault, and rape ." This form of violence is gender-biased. Violence occurs precisely because of their gender, specifically because the victims are women.
The coloniality of power is a concept interrelating the practices and legacies of European colonialism in social orders and forms of knowledge, advanced in postcolonial studies, decoloniality, and Latin American subaltern studies, most prominently by Anibal Quijano. It identifies and describes the living legacy of colonialism in contemporary societies in the form of social discrimination that outlived formal colonialism and became integrated in succeeding social orders. The concept identifies the racial, political and social hierarchical orders imposed by European colonialism in Latin America that prescribed value to certain peoples/societies while disenfranchising others.
Gender policing is the imposition or enforcement of normative gender expressions on an individual who is perceived as not adequately performing, through appearance or behavior, their gender or sex that was assigned to them at birth. According to Judith Butler, rejection of individuals who are non-normatively gendered is a component of creating one's own gender identity. Gender mainstreaming is a public policy concept, whereas gender policing is a more general social phenomenon.
Native American feminism or Native feminism is, at its root, understanding how gender plays an important role in indigenous communities both historically and in modern-day. As well, Native American feminism deconstructs the racial and broader stereotypes of indigenous peoples, gender, sexuality, while also focusing on decolonization and breaking down the patriarchy and pro-capitalist ideology. As a branch of the broader Indigenous feminism, it similarly prioritizes decolonization, indigenous sovereignty, and the empowerment of indigenous women and girls in the context of Native American and First Nations cultural values and priorities, rather than white, mainstream ones. A central and urgent issue for Native feminists is the Missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis.
Norma Bailey is a Canadian film writer, producer, and director whose work is rooted in feminist and intersectional film theory. Bailey has directed several films, both in English and French and in various different genres, including fiction and non-fiction films. Her prolific career within the film industry has awarded her various awards and professional accolades including being named to the Order of Manitoba in 2010.
Indigenous feminism is an intersectional theory and practice of feminism that focuses on decolonization, Indigenous sovereignty, and human rights for Indigenous women and their families. The focus is to empower Indigenous women in the context of Indigenous cultural values and priorities, rather than mainstream, white, patriarchal ones. In this cultural perspective, it can be compared to womanism in the African-American communities.
Coloniality of gender is a concept which was created by philosopher Maria Lugones in order to explain the role which European colonialism played in the imposition of European colonial gender structures onto the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The concept challenges the idea that gender can be separated from colonialism. It builds off of Anibal Quijano's foundational concept of the coloniality of power. This concept has also been applied to colonized societies in Asia and Africa. It is used in the scholarly fields of decolonial feminism and decoloniality more broadly.
In feminist theory, heteropatriarchy or cisheteropatriarchy, is a socio-political system where (primarily) cisgender and heterosexual males have authority over other cisgender males, females, and people with other sexual orientations and gender identities. It is a term that emphasizes that discrimination against women and LGBT people is derived from the same sexist social principle.
M. Jacqui Alexander is a writer, teacher, and activist. She is both a Professor Emeritus at the Women and Gender Studies Department of the University of Toronto as well as the creator and director of the Tobago Centre "for the study and practice of indigenous spirituality". Jacqui Alexander is an enthusiast of "the ancient African (diasporic) spiritual systems of Orisa/Ifá, and a student of yoga and Vipassana meditation". She has received teachings on this meditative practice in Nigeria, the Kôngo, India, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and New York. The themes of her work have captured a range of social justice subjects from the effects of imperialism, colonialism, and enslavement with special attention paid to the "pathologizing narratives" around homosexuality, gender, nationalism. Alexander's academic areas of interest specifically include: African Diasporic Cosmologies, African Diasporic Spiritual Practices, Caribbean studies, Gender and the Sacred, Heterosexualization and State Formation, Transnational feminism.
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The colonial roots of gender inequality refers to the political, educational, and economic inequalities between men and women in Africa. According to a Global Gender Gap Index report published in 2018, it would take 135 years to close the gender gap in Sub-Saharan Africa and nearly 153 years in North Africa. While much more is known about the effects of colonialism on all African people, less is known about the impacts of colonialism on specifically women. There are competing theories about the cause of gender inequality in Africa, but scholars suggest its genesis is in slavery and colonialism. For most women, colonialism resulted in an erosion of traditions and rights that formerly granted women equality and esteem. Women in pre-colonial Africa held positions of power and were influential in many aspects of their societies. This changed during the post-colonial period. With new forms of gender inequality introduced, many of the cultural underpinnings of African societies were eroded, and this harm has been challenging to mend. Theoretical frameworks that help to explain the colonial roots of gender inequality include coloniality of power and coloniality of gender. These decolonial concepts provide an account of how gender inequality became situated within the African context and help to explain why present-day inequalities, including women's political underrepresentation, remain significant challenges for Africa.
Xicanx is an English-language gender-neutral neologism and identity referring to people of Mexican descent in the United States. The ⟨-x⟩ suffix replaces the ⟨-o/-a⟩ ending of Chicano and Chicana that are typical of grammatical gender in Spanish. The term references a connection to Indigeneity, decolonial consciousness, inclusion of genders outside the Western gender binary imposed through colonialism, and transnationality. In contrast, most Latinos tend to define themselves in nationalist terms, such as by a Latin American country of origin.
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