Explaining gender violence in the neoliberal era
This is a fascinating, lengthy article that connects exploitation of labor and gender violence with neoliberalism. Four paragraphs can't get at what this is about, and it is well worth going to the website of the International Socialist Review to read the entire piece.
http://isreview.org/issue/91/explaining-gender-violence-neoliberal-era
By Tithi Bhattacharya
This image ought to be considered an icon for our times. It is iconic in the sense that the scene captures a moment when the distinction between the individual and societal vanishes, and the individualsthe naked wealthy white man and the Black low-waged womanemerge as pure embodiments of the societal. . . .
First, the last four decades of neoliberalism have created a marked escalation in gender crimes in most countries. The financial crisis of 2008 exacerbated what was already a serious problem; this is no longer a situation of business as usual and it requires socialists to critically engage with the problem.
Second, as Marxists it is not enough for us to describe the effects of this current intensification of violence, we need to also provide an explanation for it.
Third, capitalism, faced with a crisis, is seeking a resolution in two connected ways: (a) through an attempt to restructure production, as manifest in the drive for austerity and (b) by trying to reorder social reproduction, as evidenced in its efforts to recraft gender identities and recirculate certain ideologies regarding the working-class family. In order to understand this simultaneity and unity in capitalist restructuring, we need to revisit the Marxist analysis of womens oppression that is best approached through the analytical framework of social reproduction theory.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)I wonder how many anti-feminists will actually read this ...
(The author's observations about the "marked increase" in violence against women is key.)
It's long, and there are no pictures.
You could pull out the sources on increased gender violence and post them separately though.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)Well, I'm not inclined to do the work for them. I can only hope that those who most need to read this article do so.
littlemissmartypants
(22,590 posts)BainsBane
(53,016 posts)the rape of Diallo is a metaphor for the rape of the poor through agencies like the IMF and neoliberalism more broadly.
A fascinating and insightful analysis.