Feeling Crazy

Abstract

Abstract The notion of responsibility has figured prominently in feminist theorizing. Feminists have explored ways in which received conditions of blameworthiness and excuse mask and thereby sustain social arrangements that oppress women. Men who reap advantages from such arrangements are commonly in a position to justify their conduct by appealing to gendered social norms that grant men special prerogatives (“Lighten up! Surely there is nothing wrong in my just looking, teasing ... “) or by professing their innocent motives (“I didn’t mean any harm by it”). Alternatively, men may exempt themselves from responsibility by deflecting accountability away from individuals to larger social systems over which individuals seem powerless (“It’s not my fault; that’s just the way the system works”). In such ways, conditions of responsibility are interpreted so as to license male irresponsibility. Systematic distortion of responsibility is a feature of most resilient forms of social oppression, not only gender-based oppression.