Erkek egemenliği, kültürel şiddet ve hukuk

Abstract

While the link between male dominance and law seems obvious given the efforts to transform laws in order to achieve gender equality, the link between law and violence as a justification of gender-based inequalities is often much less clear. This paper argues that law itself can construct gender inequalities as well as justify and normalize male dominance even when its primary objective is the achievement of equality. With a focus on the issue of rape, the paper examines the Penal Code(s) of Turkey in order to elucidate some of the ways in which law can be seen to legitimize male dominance. More specifically, the relevant articles of the Penal Code(s) are treated as texts in which an androcentric understanding of sexuality prevails. To shed additional light on the link between law and male dominance, the paper employs Johan Galtung's concepts of "direct", "structural" and "cultural" violence. With the help of this violence typology, it is shown how the law makers' objective of creating more freedom and equality through the regulation of direct violence (rape) can maintain inequality unless the corresponding structural violence (male dominance) and cultural violence (legal legitimization) are also attended to. Drawing on Galtung's idea of "peace by peaceful means", the article concludes that all forms of violent sexuality can be eliminated only through the use of nonviolent methods on the one hand, and a transformation in understandings of sexuality towards greater plurality and equality on the other.