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Patriarchy, Victim-Blaming, and Internalized Misogyny

And who was her victim? The attack took place because the woman had repeatedly rejected the advances of a teenager who lived next to her parent’s home. The sixteen-year-old boy’s family claims he killed himself following her rejection in November 2021. The teen’s death caused the purported “revenge attack.” There are two notably shocking moments in this affair. First, a video shared on social media shows that most of the baying mob were women. When the brutalized woman was raped, it was women in the room who encouraged the men to be more brutal with her. Second, she was punished for refusing the boy’s advances, even though she was married. As her sister put it, “She didn’t do anything.” One can only imagine what would have happened if she were to concede and give the boy a so-called mercy-fuck. If found out, she would have again been found guilty and perhaps even more brutally punished. In short, she had a choice—both options would result in catastrophe.

The reactions to the incident are mostly accounted for in terms of “internalized patriarchy.” In patriarchal societies women are taught they’re ultimately to blame for any wrongdoing, and the scale of internalized misogyny is very large in India, where women are taught to uphold patriarchal structures.102 However, this explanation seems too smooth. It is ridiculous to account for the violence women exert on other women in the terms of internalized patriarchal values. What about the intense envy, hatred, and violence a woman can direct at her sexual competitors? While this dimension is obviously not part of some eternal “woman’s nature,” historically it has been mediated by the patriarchal order. This dependence in no way implies that a woman’s envy and violence directed at her competitors is somehow “unauthentic”—as if a woman is not able to desire and actively pursue a man and thus hate her feminine competitors.

In 2019, a scandal shook Slovenia. Danijela Ružič, a judge in Maribor, the northeastern town in Slovenia, was brutally beaten in front of her house while returning home deep in the night. For some days her life was in danger. The rumor was that her partner did it because the two were ending their relationship. Angelca Likovič, an old Christian conservative politician, reacted on Facebook, writing, “She got what she deserved!” (She deserved to be beaten for her “immoral” behavior because she was allegedly returning home from a meeting with a lover).103 Again, the shock was that it was a woman who reacted so brutally—even conservative politicians distanced themselves from her comment.

练习题

According to the passage, what made the New Delhi mob attack especially shocking in relation to gender?

A. The mob was composed entirely of teenage boys from the neighborhood.

B. Most of the mob shown in the social media video were women, and women encouraged the men’s brutality.

C. The attack was carried out secretly with no public witnesses or social media evidence.

D. The victim’s family publicly supported the punishment.

What does the author mean by saying the woman faced a choice in which “both options would result in catastrophe”?

A. She could either report the teenager or ignore him, and both would improve her situation.

B. She could either refuse the boy’s advances and be punished, or accept them and likely be punished even more severely if discovered.

C. She could either leave India or remain in India, and both choices were legally forbidden.

D. She could either marry the teenager or divorce her husband, and both choices were equally acceptable to the mob.

Which statements accurately reflect the author’s discussion of internalized patriarchy and women’s violence toward women?

A. The author says internalized patriarchy is a common explanation for the incident.

B. The author argues that internalized patriarchy alone is too smooth an explanation for women’s violence against women.

C. The author claims women’s rivalry and hostility are an eternal biological essence of women.

D. The author suggests that envy, hatred, and violence among women can be historically mediated by patriarchal order.

E. The author denies that women can actively desire men or pursue them.

In the Slovenian case, Angelca Likovič’s comment is presented as an example of female victim-blaming after a woman was brutally beaten.

The passage argues that because women’s hostility toward sexual competitors is mediated by patriarchy, such hostility is therefore completely inauthentic and never involves women’s agency.

The woman in the New Delhi case was punished for ___ the teenager’s advances, even though she was married.

The common explanation that women are taught to blame themselves and uphold patriarchal structures is called “___ patriarchy” in the passage.

How does the author complicate the explanation that women’s violence against women is simply caused by internalized patriarchy?

Compare the New Delhi case and the Slovenian case as examples of women participating in or endorsing brutality toward women.

Which interpretation best integrates the New Delhi case with the earlier claim that consent can reinforce passive roles for women?

A. The woman’s refusal shows that consent fully protects women from patriarchal punishment.

B. The woman’s situation illustrates a double bind: refusing advances led to punishment, while accepting them would likely also have been punished.

C. The case shows that women are never active participants in patriarchal violence.

D. The case proves that sexual ethics should focus only on whether a formal contract of consent exists.

Which statements correctly connect the current discussion of women’s participation in gendered violence with earlier points about desire and social norms?

A. The text argues that women’s hostility toward other women can be historically mediated by patriarchal structures.

B. The earlier claim that desire is shaped by social norms helps explain why sexual rivalry is not treated as purely natural or biological.

C. The text says women who participate in violence are only passive victims of patriarchy and have no agency.

D. The current passage rejects the idea that internalized patriarchy alone fully explains violence women direct at other women.

E. The earlier discussion of social norms and desire is unrelated to the current discussion of female rivalry.

The shock at women encouraging the New Delhi assault and at Angelca Likovič saying a beaten woman “got what she deserved” both challenge the assumption that gendered brutality toward women is expressed only by men.

How does the current section complicate the earlier call for an internationalist feminism centered on global south voices and structural crises?

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