[Reader-list] On recent discussions

[Danny Butt]

Many thanks Ana!

If I can clarify one point, I should note that my primary understanding of the logic of the attacks on Roy - which I do think approaches a universal - comes from my own experience in the English ex-colonies of Australia and New Zealand. Here we are constantly assailed in the media with the assumption of endemic oppression of women in Islamic and indigenous communities in particular; while patriarchy in European communities is routinely glossed over. Yet the same strategies are applied constantly in our supposedly-enlightened nations which like to consider themselves the measure of all others. 

I'm mindful of Yasir's comment that the discussion is primarily taking place in India, with many layers of nuance which I, as someone who has merely visited, have little knowledge of. For that reason, I would like to keep this discussion close to the actual comments on the mailing list rather than raising the spectre of the Taliban (or the Catholic church) which I know little about. But I do think I have seen enough sexualised attacks on women activists on email lists to offer an analysis of what I see as a pattern, and I hope that this comment has some value for others, and of course I am also grateful for critical feedback where my comments are inappropriate. 

Regards,

Danny 

On 5/11/2010, at 9:57 PM, Ana Valdés wrote:

> Thank you for a well articulate letter, Danny! I think you are very true when you point out the special symbolic load of a woman speaking her mind. I am raised as catholic and remember well Paulus "woman, be quite in the church". We live in Taliban ages with women stoned to death or silenced to death.
> The only women allowed to speak out speak from the television screens and sell cars or furniture or have talkshows as Ophra. We need women voices to be heard. As Mikhail Bachtin wrote we need a more polyphonic society where all voices have a possibility to be listened to.
> Ana
> 
> On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:44 PM, Danny Butt <db at dannybutt.net> wrote:
> A powerful group relying on silence will go to great lengths to maintain the status quo. A woman speaking out of line not only disrupts the norm with what she says, but, at a more fundamental level, threatens to not reproduce a patriarchal social order.  An age-old historical response is to sexualise her behavior in order to
> 
> a) regain a feeling of control;
> 
> b) distract attention from the content of the speech;
> 
> c) disavow responsibility for repressing critical speech by shifting the judgement to moral grounds sanctioned by a higher power;
> 
> d) remind the woman that if necessary, male physical power can be applied to her body to bring her into line;
> 
> e) remind other women that the price of their speech may be paid with their bodies;
> 
> This is what I have seen in many forums over the last couple of weeks, but it has been made most explicit in the discussions here. I appreciate the tireless efforts of Sarai in providing a truly open and democratic forum where we can see the unvarnished expressions of those who would not only remove that right to expression for others, but demonstrate their support for personal violence in the process. For me, the discussion has been sobering and instructive, especially perhaps at its most ragged and infuriating points.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Danny
> 
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> http://www.dannybutt.net
> 
> 
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