Josephine Butler’s Relevance Today
Violence against women: hypermasculinity and the impact during COVID-19
In Victorian Britain, patriarchy was very much the norm, with men holding the power, both in government and family, and women excluded from it. Whilst it would be nice to think of patriarchy being a thing of the past, it is still very much in existence. It sometimes feels as if we are not making much progress with gender equality. Josephine campaigned against violence towards women in the nineteenth century. Some men continue to be violent towards women and will do so until serious changes are made in attitudes towards women. You only need to look at the Sarah Everard case, where a man was found to be using his position of power to murder an innocent woman, for a recent example. Unfortunately, there are many cases of violence and abuse of women happening today, as demonstrated by the ‘Me-Too’ movement (Nicolaou, E. and Smith, C. E 2019).
A term associated with violence towards women and commonly used nowadays is ‘hypermasculinity’, an exaggeration of men’s behaviours or traits, and the belief that men should act a certain way, particularly towards women. Research shows that ‘some men in prison concoct a volatile brew where violence becomes tolerated, normalized, valued, and expected’ (Morse, S. J and Wright, K. A, 2019). Some may see violence as being ‘manly’ and will often think of themselves in a position of high power, and with this power they may manipulate women into believing or trusting them.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘one in three women experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime’, however many of these cases may never be disclosed due to fear of not being believed or fear of what the man could potentially do (World Health Organisation, 2021). During the pandemic, cases of domestic abuse have been heightened and with all the complications the virus has caused, many of these cases are being overlooked. ‘According to data from the United Nations, only 52 countries have integrated measures to prevent violence against women in their Covid-19 response plans’ (Swaminathan, S. 2021). Not only is this a harrowing issue at present, but with women continuing to be exposed to violence in recent times, it is only going to leave them facing struggles related to this in the future.
With all this happening in our current climate, it is interesting to wonder what differences Josephine Butler could have made if she was alive today. I strongly believe that with her extreme passion wanting to help women less fortunate than herself, real changes could be made, and these issues would be taken more seriously. She was successful at getting.... laws changed/overturned. This was at a time when the lawmakers were all men, and yet, she was successful as a strong woman in making them listen and change legislation. She is a great role model for us all today when we consider how we might create a more equal, compassionate and caring society.
Nicolaou, E. and Smith, C. E (2019) Refinery29, A #MeToo Timeline To Show How Far We’ve Come — & How Far We Need To Go, Available from: <https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2018/10/213189/me-too-movement-history-timeline-year-weinstein> [accessed 18/02/2022].
Morse, S. J and Wright, K. A (2019) Imprisoned Men: Masculinity Variability and Implications for Correctional Programming, Page 3, available from: <https://ccj.asu.edu/sites/default/files/morse_and_wright_in_press.pdf> [accessed 18/02/2022].
World Health Organisation (2021) Devastatingly pervasive: 1 in 3 women globally experience violence, available from: <https://www.who.int/news/item/09-03-2021-devastatingly-pervasive-1-in-3-women-globally-experience-violence> [accessed 18/02/2022].
Swaminathan. S, Stat News (2021) Covid-19 is fueling a pandemic of violence against women and girls, available from: <https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/06/covid-19-policies-fuel-violence-against-women-girls/> [accessed 18/02/2022].