>Feature of male supremacy? In the theory/practice enforcement of
>patriarchy sense, or in the sense that men's propensity to abuse is
>some sort of psychopathology produced by patriarchy?
Mostly the former--in the sense that adult men have social, political and economic power, more power than women in their families, more power than children. When in rare cases they are accused of abuse or harassment of women and girls (physical or sexual) they are backed up by other men, in practice, even when the law is against them.
When I've compared experiences with other women with reporting harassment, groping and other abuse to the relevant authorities we discover a pattern: The men do not experience repercussions and we on the other hand are criticized, blamed, humiliated, and in some cases punished for making complaints. This starts early, in grade school.
Also, when women suspect sexual abuse of their children by the fathers, they often are not in a position to prevent it due to economic dependency and lack of social power. When they do fight openly, as in a divorce, the courts often side with the alleged abuser (most of these disputes are in family court, not criminal court).
I'm not going to make claims about psychopathology produced by unwarranted power. I'm sure there's some magnifying effect. How do you tease out the strands, though? I think of Frederick Douglass' description of Captain Anthony:
"He could not only be deaf to the appeals of the helpless against the aggressor, but he could himself commit outrages deep, dark, and nameless. Yet he was not by nature worse than other men. Had he been brought up in a free state, surrounded by the full restraints of civilized society - restraints which are necessary to the freedom of all its members, alike and equally, Capt. Anthony might have been as humane a man as are members of such society generally. A man's character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him. The slaveholder, as well as the slave, was the victim of the slave system. Under the whole heavens there could be no relation more unfavorable to the development of honorable character than that sustained by the slaveholder to the slave. Reason is imprisoned here and passions run wild. Could the reader have seen Captain Anthony gently leading me by the hand, as he sometimes did, patting me on the head, speaking to me in soft, caressing tones and calling me his little Indian boy, he would have deemed him a kind-hearted old man, and really almost fatherly to the slave boy. But the pleasant moods of a slaveholder are transient and fitful. They neither come often nor remain long. The temper of the old man was subject to special trials, but since these trials were never borne patiently, they added little to his natural stock of patience."
>And if Yoshie's data is right, showing a decline in sexual abuse of
children, then
>that seems rather important.
I think it's important, I'm just not so sure data like these are something you'd want to rely on for explanations of anything, not without considerable further investigation.
Jenny Brown