Masculinity, Emotion and Sexual Violence

Abstract

Over the past three decades feminist writers and theoreticians have been elaborating ideas which make connections between gender and sexual violence. This approach has been applied to the analysis of child sexual abuse and it has been argued that since the vast majority of known abusers are male,1 the social construction of masculinity within a patriarchal culture may be an important contributory factor.2 It is important to note what this does not mean; a physiological state of maleness does not itself produce sexual violence. Rather, there exists a social construction of masculinity, which is dominant in Western culture, and which contains elements enabling sexual and other violence against women, children and men.