Marilynn S Johnsons Violence in the West Analysis

Document Type:Thesis

Subject Area:History

Document 1

Instances of gender-based violence on the basis of perceived gender roles are also capture in the book. Gender role is a set of societal expectations that reads out how an individual of a gender should think, behave and feel. Significantly, there is close interlinking among gender roles, the level/ nature of poverty and the populations vulnerability more so in sub Saharan Africa. In the book, poverty level is depicted by such factors as human and financial capital, social and physical wealth as well as physical, political and the assets derived from nature. Gender role restrictions occur when confining oneself or others to stereotypic routines of masculinity ideology. It is noted that in several western cities, violence by vigilantes were often justified in “in the name of protecting women from crime and vice” (p.

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Watson’s lynching was somehow linked to fact that she was a land owner. In those days, the patriarchal society never expected women to own property and land and wealthy land owners like Buchanan could have seen that as a threat and an attack on their chauvinistic egos. The author goes ahead t reveal how a movie titled Heaven’s Gate played a significant role in highlighting the role of women in the emancipation of the society. Most importantly, the author describes how movie offered women more instrumental roles such as the role played by “Cattle Cate” and a myriad of other frontier women who brandished guns and fought alongside men (p. In the social learning process, a child begins to learn his/her gender role, the summation of behaviours the males and females are expected of by the society.

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Gender roles vary from one culture to another and have altered with time. Only of late has the role of ‘mother’ been associated with ‘homemaker’ as well as that of ‘breadwinner’ and mother. Even though the term androgyny is usually used to refer to an amalgamation of both feminine and masculine physical characteristics, is now often used to refer to a person who displays both feminine and masculine characteristics that are deemed detrimental, such as those depicted by a man who engage in fierce wrestling matches and yet mildly holds and feeds a baby. In the book, Johnson opens with a very catchy introductory passage that ultimately situates violence in the depicted era within the overarching social, political and economic situation of the time.

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