[femmeInterrupted]

Men Create the Demand; Women Are the Supply

Lecture on Sexual Exploitation
Queen Sofia Center, Valencia, Spain
November 2000

Donna M. Hughes
University of Rhode Island

Control and Abuse of Women and Girls’ Sexuality

The control and abuse of women and girls’ sexuality creates and maintains women’s oppression all over the world. Men hold the important decision making positions in all social, political and religious institutions that organize and control society. Through this institutional power, men construct culture, pass laws, and enact policies that serve their interests and give themselves the power to control women and children in public and private spheres. Men’s definition and control of female sexuality constructs and regulates women and girls’ sexual activity. Voluntary, as well as involuntary, violations of society’s man-made rules mark women as tainted and immoral, and bring dishonor to the family.

Repression and Exploitation--Complementary Forms of Control and Abuse

Repression and exploitation are different, but complementary, forms of control and abuse of female sexuality. Women and girls’ sexuality is repressed by strict control on sexual activity through such customs as placing a premium on girls’ virginity, basing family honor on the sexual control of daughters and wives, exacting severe punishment for adultery, preventing equal access to divorce, and segregating girls and women from boys and men.

Patriarchal religions, which mold most of the cultures of the world, subordinate women and girls to men. Fundamentalist movements, whether Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Islamic, advocate the repression of women and girls’ sexuality. Women and girls’ interaction with men and boys is closely monitored and restricted and their bodies and hair covered in a way deemed to be modest. For example, under the influence of Islamic fundamentalism, women are required to wear full body coverings, such as chadors and burqas. Punishment for sexual misconduct can be severe, as in Iran, where women can be legally stoned to death.

The other form of control and abuse of women’s sexuality is exploitation, in which women and girls are used for men’s sexual gratification or profit. Women and children are sexually exploited when they are subjected to incest, rape, sexual harassment, battering, bride trafficking, pornography, and prostitution.

In private, all forms of sexual exploitation exist all over the world. The public sexual exploitation of women and children is more varied; in some places it is actively suppressed, while elsewhere it is legalized or regulated.

The repression and exploitation of women and girls’ sexuality often occur simultaneously. For example, in Iran under fundamentalist rule, women’s activities in the public are segregated from men and full body coverings are required. At the same time, fundamentalists worsened sexual exploitation by lowering the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 9, and renewing the practice of temporary marriage, in which a man can marry a woman for as short a period as one hour, allowing a state sanctioned form of prostitution.

Men often use the repression and exploitation of women and girls to represent their political victories and power. For example, with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, victory over Western influence is measured by the level of repression imposed on women, as happened in Iran and Afghanistan. In other cases, victories over state control and censorship are celebrated by availability of pornography, as happened in the Soviet Union during perestroika, or the United Arab Emirates when the Internet is used to access pornography.