Femininity, Masculinity, and Sexuality in Morocco and Hollywood OsireGlacier Femininity, Masculinity, and Sexuality in Morocco and Hollywood The Negated Sex OsireGlacier DepartmentofPoliticsandInternationalStudies Bishop’sUniversity Sherbrooke,Québec,Canada ISBN978-3-319-53284-4 ISBN978-3-319-53285-1(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-53285-1 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017937307 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.The publisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitu- tionalaffiliations. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland A CKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the Research Cluster, Crossing Borders, Gender and Power axis as well as the Research Services at Bishop’s University (Sherbrooke, Canada) for supporting this project. Special thanks also to Ms. Lee Ann St. Onge for her professionalism and hervaluable assistance. v C ONTENTS 1 GeneralIntroduction: TheDehumanization of Women 1 1 Theoretical Approach 1 2 Literature Review 9 3 Contribution,Methodology, and Chapters 11 Notes 17 2 ANegatedBody 21 1 Introduction 21 2 Sexuality:A Masculine Domain 22 2.1 TheAsymmetry ofWomen and Men’s SexualExperience 22 2.2 LanguageReinforcesthe Asymmetry BetweenWomen andMen in Relation to Sex 25 2.3 A LanguageDistinguishedbySex 26 2.4 Languageas aToolfor SociopoliticalConditioning aboutSex 27 3 Sexuality:An UnequalRelationship 30 3.1 Seduction: A GameofUnfairAdvantages 31 3.2 Sex:A Manifestationof Masculine Power and Dominance 33 3.3 Penetrationas theAppropriation ofWomen 36 3.4 MaleAppropriation and FemaleSelf-sacrifice 36 3.5 FemalePleasureas Defeat 38 3.6 WhenSex, Power,Aggression, and WarCollide 40 3.7 Violenceand Hyper-masculinity 40 vii viii CONTENTS 3.8 Rapeas theUltimate ExpressionofPower 43 4 TheFeminine as aBody forOthers 46 4.1 MaritalRape:A Feminine Rite ofPassage 46 4.2 A HusbandHolds hisWife’s Bodyin Usufruct 52 4.3 Procreation: A Masculine Act 52 4.4 Abortion: A MasculineDecision 54 4.5 Breastfeeding:A Masculine Decision 56 4.6 BecomingaWoman 56 4.7 TheAtrophy ofFemaleSpace 57 4.8 TheImpoverishmentof theFeminine Sense ofSelf 59 4.9 TheGlorification ofBeauty Completes Women’s Objectification 64 5 Conclusion 68 Notes 70 3 ANegatedIntellect 79 1 Introduction 79 2 TheFeminine and the Masculine:Attributesthat Precede Women andMen 80 3 Negatingthe Feminine Intellect 84 3.1 TheWorkof Sexingin the PrivateSphere 84 3.2 TheWorkof SexualDivision 84 3.3 TheSexualOrganization ofLabor 86 3.4 A DiffuseMisogynyin the PublicSphere 90 3.5 TheErasure ofAccomplished Women 90 3.6 TheGeneralized Propagation ofDegrading Images ofWomen 94 3.7 TheDemonizationof Women 99 4 TheEconomic and SexualExploitation ofWomen 103 4.1 DomesticLabor: AnAuxiliaryto the Androcentric Order 104 4.2 Women’sPaid Work: AnExtension ofDomestic Labor 109 4.3 Prostitution:A Continuum of Writingsofthe Body andthe SexualDivision ofLabor 118 5 Conclusion 123 Notes 123 CONTENTS ix 4 ANegatedLife 133 1 Introduction 133 2 OstracizingSingleWomen 134 3 Women:Symbolic GoodsExchangedbetween Men ina Community ofMen 138 3.1 CoercingtheLaw and Masculine Interpretations ofReligion 138 3.2 Women:Symbolic GoodsExchangedbetweenMen 140 3.3 TheCommunity: AnExclusivelyMasculine Entity 143 3.4 A Feminine withoutaVoice 145 4 MarriageInaugurates theAppropriation and Control ofWomen 147 4.1 Sadaq (Masculine Gift):Compensation forthe Feminine Lossof Self 148 4.2 CreatingInequalityin Marriage 150 4.3 Mechanisms forthe Appropriationand Control ofWomen in Marriage 152 5 Conclusion 158 Notes 159 5 GeneralConclusion: Rehabilitating Women’s Humanity 165 Notes 172 Bibliography 175 Index 187 CHAPTER1 General Introduction: The Dehumanization of Women This book is the first to formulate an ideology of emancipation for Moroccan women. It analyzes the central role played by discourse about thebodyor,moreprecisely,aboutsexualityincreatingasociopoliticalsex and gender hierarchy in Morocco. The global gender gap report ranks Morocco 139 out of 145 nations.1 Admittedly, a number of studies have addressed the issue of sex and gender inequality in Morocco. Typical topics of study include the veil, legal discrimination against women, ten- sions between modernity and traditions, and the heated debates raging between defenders of cultural specificity and those who defend the prin- ciple that rights are universal. However, these studies do not offer a synthesized vision that would allow us to understand the mechanisms producing women’s inferiority. Oftentimes scholars conducting research ofthiskindevenobscuretheeverydaysexual,economic,andsociopolitical exploitation they presume to be studying. Thus, this work exposes in an analytic manner the social and political dynamics that devalue the feminine. 1 THEORETICAL APPROACH Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu examined the persistence of masculine dom- ination in Mediterranean societies over several centuries in his formative workLadominationmasculine.Inhisbook,Bourdieuunraveledprocesses transforming the history of gender into nature, and the cultural arbitrary ©TheAuthor(s)2017 1 O.Glacier,Femininity,Masculinity,andSexualityinMorocco andHollywood,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-53285-1_1 2 O.GLACIER of these constructs into the natural.2 He revealed that an androcentric vision of the cosmos produced the hierarchical construction of gender, andnottheinverse.3Infact,rigorousandrelationaldivisionsbetweenthe feminineandthemasculineareconsistentlyappliedtosocialstructuresto legitimize the androcentric order of the universe.4 This division is subse- quently made to appear natural by recourse to the visible differences between the female body and the male body.5 The phallus is conceived ofasasymbolofvirility,andthevariationsbetweenbiologicalbodiesare presented as an objective foundation upon which the sex and gender hierarchy stands.6 This kind of masculine sociodicy is achieved through a collective work of socialization that is both widespread and continuous, and that transforms bodies deeply and durably.7 Various social customs andpracticesrelatedtothebody,butmorepreciselytosexuality,produce the social categories of feminine woman and virile man.8 This collective laborofsocializationpresentsmalebodiesaspowerfulandimposeslimits onwomen based onhow theirbodies look.9 Straight/curved, head up/eyes lowered, high/low, vertical/horizon- tal, outside/inside, superior/inferior represent some of the body-related discourseaboutthemasculineandthefemininethatparticipatesincreat- ing social distinctions between them.10 Inevitably, men assume without questionthattheyareentitledtopositionsofpowerintheprivatesphere aswellastheinpublicsphere.Variousinstitutionsincludingthemarriage market, the family, schools, the workplace, and television ratify and rein- force structuresthatsupport masculinedomination.11 This collective invasion of the body is an expression of the political mythologybutpopularbelieftendstoreducethesexandgenderhierarchy to a social problem or a subject of interest to women only. This explains why, for example during the 2011 revolts in Maghreb and the Middle- East, including Morocco, protestors limited their demands, generally speaking to the resignation of authoritarian regimes, economic rights, and the respect for human dignity.12 Their demands did not include any explicit pleas for equality between the sexes.13 But to relegate discourse aboutthebodyandsexualitytostrictpowerrelationsbetweenwomenand men is to completely underestimate the political dimension of this discourse. As the philosopher Michel Foucault has shown, the body is directly inscribed in the political.14 More precisely, given that modern power has assumed the power to govern living beings, this power over life is devel- opedaccordingtotwoprincipleforms,bothofwhichrevolvearoundthe