The narrative of male violence on women's bodies

Abstract

The term narrative, according to the New Oxford English Dictionary means a 'written account of connected events.' With reference to male violence against women's bodies, it seems to me to be clear that women's bodies are the surface upon which male violence writes its narrative. While this is not an entirely new concept in the realms of feminist studies, it appears to have lost some of its force in the abstraction of much theoretical work and the notion that women allegedly have gained the equality second wave feminism focussed on. In order to deconstruct the many instances of violence against women's bodies, one needs to survey both the superficial level i.e. the one which we see clearly on a day to day basis, but also the more profound invisible structures that perpetuate male violence and leave the integrity of women's bodies constantly in danger of being violated.