Femme Phobia: Men’s Violence Towards Women, Trans and Effeminate Bodies in India and South Africa
Men’s Violence Towards Women, Trans and Effeminate Bodies in India and South Africa
In this paper I explore the ways in which heteropatriarchal men, seek to establish and create a sense of masculinity through violence and femme phobia towards women, trans and effeminate queer bodies. In so doing, the very construction of a ‘man’ within heteropatriarchal and heternormative contexts are critically addressed in this paper. Theoretically I argue that we need to understand the role heteronormative masculine violence and phobia towards various forms of femininities as an attempt to create and ‘become a man’. The process of ‘becoming’ heteronormative masculine subjects requires phobia towards femininities.
Methodologically this paper draws on empirical qualitative material from long term fieldwork in New Delhi, India and Johannesburg, South Africa. Qualitative data was collected through ethnographic observations as well as interviews with young men, women, queer and trans people in India and South Africa from 2020-2022.
A major contribution of the paper is the theorisation of Femme Phobia to understand forms of men’s gendered and sexual violence towards women, trans and effeminate bodies in the Global South. The paper provides evidence for the ‘continuum of sexual violence’ within heteropatriarchal contexts where women, trans and effeminate bodies are located hierarchically with men and masculinities at the intersections of race, class, caste, and sexuality. Through this lens, the paper reveals which types of femme bodies are acceptable and in what contexts, and which types of femme bodies create ‘gender trouble’ and hence also face intense violence.