emmanuel reynaud holy virility the social construction of masculinity

with her husband in the place he decides on. Likewise 'the most
mediaeval and bloody provision of the French Criminal Code,
Art. 324, which authorised the husband to take the law into his
own hands and execute his unfaithful wife on the spot, has
become a thing of the past.' [2] However, the real impact of
these modifications should not be overestimated, for legal
provisions are not the only means employed by men to defend
their private property, their women. A whole series of measures
actually aim to bind the wife to her husband, to confine her to
the home, and, occasionally, to render her unattractive or unfit
for the sexual use of another man. In addition, to perfect the
device granting each man exclusive possession of a woman, the
man class endeavours to make it so hard for women outside
marriage that women themselves end up wishing to be
appropriated.
[Marriage / 89]
Women as private property
We have already seen how man manages to get a woman to
sacrifice herself in return for his apparent protection and
generosity; he generally ensures that his wife is financially
dependent on him, and it is not too difficult for him to keep her
in the home. His schemes are usually so effective that most of
the time he succeeds in persuading her that his own interests
are those of the 'couple' or the 'child', and that his advantages
are those of his wife. So the famous 'opportunity' she has of
staying at home, instead of going to work outside for a boss, is
supposed to be one of the great 'privileges' of the married
woman.
In actual fact, the only benefit she gets from the situation is to
have one boss instead of two; unfortunately, with her husband
she has the worst of the two. To give a few examples: domestic
labour is not a paid occupation, nor is there any time limit to it
(no salary, no 40-hour week, no week-ends, no paid leave, no
real retirement); in the case of breach of contract (divorce), her
professional experience is considered limited or non-existent
―'Profession? None . . . well, housewife!'― and she will find it
all the more difficult to find a paid job, and therefore is all the
less likely to want to resign from her 'role' of wife ; in a situation
of marital tension, if she goes on a cooking, housework or sex
strike, the balance of power is obviously very much against her .