Women’s role in the production of patriarchal values of masculinity

The existence of women have largely been negleted throughout the development of the studies on men and masculinity. Women give as much consent to the continuation of patriarchal power relations as men. As girl friends, sexual partners, schoolmates, colleagues etc., women play a central role in the construction of masculinity. Therefore it is necessary to have a closer look at the practices of women and to examine the reciprocal roles played by masculinity and femininity in the construction process. Women should be regarded as co-founders of this construction since they were not only victimized by the patriarchal masculinity, but they also gave consent or affirmation to the patriarchal order. In this study, by working on the basis of the home and family environment, it is aimed to reveal the role of women in the foundation and continuation of the patriarchal hegemony of masculinity which serves to the oppressive social relations of gender and to understand whether women co-operate with the dominant strategies of masculinity within a gender order which, in fact, afflicts them. The data used in the study have been compiled through in-depth interviews with twenty women. All the interviewees are residents of Trabzon city.