Concerning Violence against Women: A Fanonian Analysis of Colonizing the Female Body

Abstract

This paper explores various manifestations of violence against women in the United States through a Fanonian analysis of colonizing practices. It argues that the hostility towards women which has been so evident in American public policy over the past year can be understood as a large-scale, abstract version of more concrete applications of social control still pervasive in interpersonal relations. Understanding misogyny and objectification of women through Fanon’s theory of colonization shows us that the philosophical basis of American attitudes about gender roles and gendered public policies is not the “pro-life” orientation promoted in political rhetoric, but the deliberate application of a politics of fear.