The Theorising Gender in Violence Prevention Policy and Practice: Revisiting the Concept of Patriarchy ‘First Fridays’ Deakin GSS HDR Masterclass was held on 4 May 2018.
A masterclass by Bob Pease (Deakin University)
In contemporary violence prevention policy, and much violence intervention practice, there has been a de-radicalising of gender analyses of men’s violence against women and a lack of theoretical coherence in understanding the causes of men’s violence. In this class I will argue for the importance of a critical theorising of gender against the current framing of gender as simply a sex category. It will also argue that we cannot understand violence against women outside of an analysis of patriarchy. It will examine critiques of the concept of patriarchy and argue the case for a nuanced conceptualisation of patriarchy that accounts for a variety of patriarchal structures within a neoliberal and transnational world. The class will be of interest to participants who want to understand the relevance of contemporary debates about gender and nuanced discussions about patriarchy for their own research.
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Suggested readings
Pease, B. (2014) ‘Theorising Men’s Violence Prevention Policies: Limitations and Possibilities of Interventions in a Patriarchal State’. In N. Henry, and A. Powell (eds.) Preventing Sexual Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Challenging a Rape Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 22-40.
Pease, B. (2015) ‘Disengaging Men from Patriarchy: Rethinking the Man Question in Masculinity Studies’. In M. Flood and R. Howson (eds.) Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality, Cambridge Scholars’ Press, Newcastle upon Tyne, pp. 55-70.
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About the speaker
Bob Pease is Adjunct Professor in the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of Tasmania and Honorary Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University. He has published extensively in the field of critical studies on men and masculinities and profeminist politics with men. His most recent books are Doing Critical Social Work (co-editor 2016), Men, Masculinities and Disaster (co-editor 2016), Critical Ethics of Care in Social Work (co-editor 2018) and Radicals in Australian Social Work: Stories of Lifelong Activism (co-editor 2018). He is currently writing a book titled Facing Patriarchy: Overcoming a Violent Gender Order.
