emmanuel reynaud holy virility the social construction of masculinity

appropriation of women means that any woman who has not
been already clearly taken is available for a man to appropriate
at any moment. That is, she is constantly threatened―
physically as well ―with appropriation (until it occurs, when she
is granted a relative respite). Seeing the situation in a more
individual light, one could say that, like the mafioso who
instigates a rule of terror in order to justify his racket, man
creates a reign of fear to enable him to protect: he rapes the
others to be daddy to one ― moreover, does he not make the
distinction himself between the women he 'screws' and the
woman he marries?
Once a woman has been exclusively appropriated, man
guarantees his 'protection' but retains the threat that he might
withdraw it, at the same time making himself necessary and
trying to treat 'his' woman as a child. This process is part of a
global ideology according to which a woman is not supposed to
be capable of looking after herself. We can see it expressed in a
range of activities from filling in a tax form, which she is
considered incapable of doing by herself, or mending a fuse,
which she is not supposed to know about, to driving a car,
which she is bound to crash into a brick wall. That man himself
may skid on a wet road, or not know the different between 13
and 15 amps or has not got a clue about tax law, makes no
difference. It is enough that Alan Jones, Thomas Edison and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer are men, for any man to feel that
driving, electricity and the tax system are biologically
impregnated in him. Woman should not have to be told twice
and should be happy among her pots and pans in the kitchen―
'Don't touch that! I'm coming!' He is a man, therefore he knows
and he acts.
Of course, given the rate at which traditional values are losing
credibility nowadays, man's image as the all-powerful protector
has become somewhat tarnished. But even so, it still holds
sway: the saviours and supermen remain high in the charts of
men's fantasies, and the medieval knights have simply been
transformed into crusaders of domestic cleanliness. The
procedure remains exactly the same: man 'proves' his love by
overcoming difficulties, woman shows her gratitude by placing
herself entirely at his disposal. He proudly invents washing
powder, and she does the washing.
[The daddy and the rapist / 73]
Man does not acquire a woman only by 'protecting' her, he also
provides for her. Daddy is generous, he feeds and houses, but
underneath this magnanimous exterior ―which he sometimes
emphasises― he is, in reality, concealing his attempts to
prevent a woman surviving unless she serves him. Indeed,
whether in the guise of father, husband, boss or lover, man
generally does his best to discourage a woman from working for
a salary― if she insists, or if the couple need the money, it will
only be as a secondary income. She thus becomes more
dependent on him or on another member of the man class, to
provide for her vital needs.