Prof Tommy Curry on Racism as a Misandric Aggression

The Practical, the Political and the Ethical seminar series

Racism as a Misandric Aggression: Assessing the Consequence of the Man-Not Concept 

Tommy J. Curry (Edinburgh)

Original seminar date

19 June 2020, 4.00pm - 6.00pm

Watch the recording of this seminar

Abstract

In The Man-Not, I argue “instead of being protected by patriarchy, Black men and boys are revealed to be its greatest victims under closer examination.” To say that racism is a misandric aggression is to say that racism is a form of dehumanization targeting Black males through lethal violence and sexual caricature with the intent of eliminating this group from society. This paper will argue for an understanding of patriarchy based on racial kinship, defend a phallicistic account of racist violence, and explain the need for the Man-Not as a theoretical intervention into gender/genre theories.  Extending the subordinate male target hypothesis of Jim Sidanius and Felecia Pratto, and the work of Global South Masculinities, Black Male Studies not only argues that Black males are the primary targets of patriarchal violence, but that such violence inverts “patriarchal” gender relations within the Black race such that anti-Black misandry is the most dominant and most virulent form of sexual violence. In short, the theory of misandric aggression argues that Black men and boys are targeted because of their racialized maleness in the United States.

The Institute of Philosophy hosts a regular workshop series entitled ‘The Practical, the Political, and the Ethical’. The series was created in 2015 by Véronique Munoz-Dardé (UCL) and Hallvard Lillehammer (Birkbeck) in order to discuss work in progress from visiting speakers. This year the series is convened by Amanda Greene (UCL) and Jonathan Gingerich (KCL).  Talks are normally 50 minutes (no pre-circulation of the paper), followed by discussion. All are welcome.