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Troubling the Subject of Violence: The Pacifist Presumption, Martial Maternalism, and Armed Women in Contemporary Gun Culture

Perverse Politics? Feminism, Anti-Imperialism, Multiplicity

ISBN: 978-1-78635-074-9, eISBN: 978-1-78635-073-2

Publication date: 30 March 2016

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with men and women gun carriers, this paper considers the intersection of femininity and guns. It argues that two sets of expectations shape the normative relationship between women and guns: First, armed women are a blind spot in feminist discourse, which tends to reproduce the “pacifist presumption” that women are nonviolent caretakers and peacemakers. Second, contemporary pro-gun discourse often bases women’s gun carry within their duties and obligations as mothers in a form of “martial maternalism.” Inflected with a post-feminist appropriation of rights and equality, this pro-gun discourse reproduces gender binaries through a discourse of gender inclusivity. Following previous analyses that emphasize the contradictory politics of gender in conservative spaces, my analysis emphasizes how the gendered politics of guns is sustained by multiple, though not necessarily shared, understandings of women’s guns by men and women within American gun culture.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Jessica Cobb and Kimberly Hoang for their tireless engagement of my work; both read multiple drafts of the paper and provided incisive feedback at each turn. Conversations with Kristin Goss also immensely improved the paper. In addition, the paper benefitted tremendously from the theoretical acumen of Ann Orloff, Raka Ray, Evren Savcı, and the reviewers at the Political Power & Social Theory. All errors are the author’s.

Citation

Carlson, J. (2016), "Troubling the Subject of Violence: The Pacifist Presumption, Martial Maternalism, and Armed Women in Contemporary Gun Culture", Perverse Politics? Feminism, Anti-Imperialism, Multiplicity (Political Power and Social Theory, Vol. 30), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 81-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0198-871920160000030002

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited