lhe facts are now well established, both by sector associations and by research in human and social sciences on gender relations, and the Mazan rape trial is an opportunity to remember this: the vast majority of rapes are committed by adult men known to the victim, and all social circles are affected.
This violence is, furthermore, naturalized and normalized by the dominant representations of virility and heterosexuality. In popular culture, as in legitimate culture, sexual coercion of women by men is easily presented as desirable: far from just the prerogative of pornography or dark romance., These scenarios are also found in auteur films and children’s cartoons.
Sexual violence cannot be explained by a single source of cultural influence that can be isolated and censored. Men’s willingness to dominate and coerce is part of a socialization toward heterosexual virility, which in turn is facilitated by a patriarchal cultural environment.
Active production of ignorance.
Becoming aware of gender violence implies, therefore, a personal and collective transformation that, for heterosexual men, implies the in-depth deconstruction and reconstruction of their relationship with women, with other men and with themselves.
Many of them, however, still think they are above the problem. they would be too “polite”, “adults”, “normal” AND “responsible” be reduced to common “rapists.” Recognizing that the way one learns about manhood and heterosexuality makes one a potential perpetrator of violence is, indeed, an uncomfortable position; and rape is, in fact, an issue that tends to mobilize more people likely to suffer it than people likely to commit it.
Unfortunately, sexual violence is not only explained by the lack of education, but also by the lack of interest and commitment of men. Their ignorance of feminist knowledge about sexual violence is also linked to the desire to remain in their comfort zone, within their perimeter of privilege, in their dominant status.
Faced with this active production of ignorance, educating men to involve them in the prevention of gender violence is above all a long-term task, because men do not change overnight. It is also a complex work, because it requires educational reflexivity to position oneself in a comprehensive manner against positions of denial of violence; but also a tedious and thankless job, which sometimes becomes naturalized as a “women’s work”sometimes denigrated as “castrator” AND “spoilsport”.
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