Facing Patriarchy: From a Violent Gender Order to a Culture of Peace

Facing Patriarchy challenges current thinking about men’s violence against women. Drawing upon radical and intersectional feminist theory and critical masculinity studies, the book locates men’s violence within the structures and processes of patriarchy. Addressing the limitations of current violence prevention policies, Bob Pease argues that a nuanced conceptualisation of patriarchy, that accounts for a variety of patriarchal structures, intersections with other forms of inequality, patriarchal ideologies, men’s peer group relations, men’s sexist practices and the construction of patriarchal subjectivities, is required to understand the links between gender and men’s violence against women. Pease shows that men’s violence against women needs to be understood in the context of other forms of men’s violence, including violence against boys and other men, in the involvement of men in wars and conflicts between nations and men’s ecologically destructive practices which constitute a form of slow violence. With crucial implications for priorities in violence prevention, gender equality promotion and in strategies for engaging men in this work, Facing Patriarchy offers new hope for the elimination of men’s violence. This is an essential book for scholars, practitioners, activists and policy makers involved in violence prevention in national and international contexts.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Facing patriarchy Part I. Rethinking frameworks and policies addressing men’s violence against women 1. The limits of public health approaches to violence against women prevention 2. The limits of gender equality policies for violence against women prevention Part II Locating men’s violence against women within the pillars of patriarchy 3. Transnational and intersectional structures of patriarchy 4. Patriarchal ideology and hegemonic gender beliefs 5. Homosociality and patriarchal peer support among men 6. Coercive control and familial patriarchy 7. Patriarchal masculinities and masculine selves Part III. Linking men’s violence against women to other violences by men 8. Gendering men’s public violence against men 9. Gendering militarism, war and terrorism 10. Gendering global warming and environmental violence Part IV. Overcoming a violent gender order 11. Disrupting men’s complicity in the pillars of patriarchy 12. Fostering a feminist ethic of care in men

About the Author :
Bob Pease is Honorary Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University and Adjunct Professor in the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of Tasmania. His previous works include Undoing Privilege (Zed 2010); A Man’s World? Changing Men’s Practices in a Globalized World (co-editor, Zed 2001);  Men, Masculinities and Methodologies (co-editor 2013) and Men, Masculinities and Disaster (co-editor, 2016). He has been actively involved in feminist politics for many years, and was a founding member of Men Against Sexual Assault in Melbourne.

Review :
‘Facing Patriarchy is a highly accessible, critical examination of the urgent problem of men’s violence to women, linking it to other forms of violence, and making strong contributions to stopping it.’ Jeff Hearn, author of Men of the World and editor of Unsustainable Institutions of Men ‘In the struggle for sex/gender justice, Bob Pease’s title is on target – the key is Facing Patriarchy. His radical analysis demonstrates over and over that we will not make serious progress against men’s violence and a host of other problems without a deep critique of patriarchy. In a cultural moment where academic jargon and political euphemisms are designed to derail radical feminism, Pease’s book is a welcome addition to our toolkit for challenging men to be fully human.’ Robert Jensen, University of Texas at Austin, author of The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men ‘In this current era of populism, a rabid anti-feminist backlash, and a rising right, this is a much needed book. Pease’s ground-breaking offering reminds us of the importance of emphasizing a rich gendered understanding of men’s violence against women. Indeed, as he correctly points out, we cannot understand and eliminate woman abuse without recognizing that a substantial number of male actions, values and beliefs are micro-social expressions of broader patriarchal forces. Facing Patriarchy is destined  to become a classic piece of feminist scholarship, one that every man must read.’ Walter S. DeKeseredy, West Virginia University