Myriam Miedzian. Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Between
Masculinity and Violence. NY: Doubleday 1991. In the comment excerpted
here about the need to re-examine the obvious, Miedzian is specifically
referring to the fact that violent behavior is a very gendered phenomenon
(it is usually males who are perpetrating violence) which everybody knows
but which tends to be ignored when theorizing about violence. This theme
of needing to critically re-evaluate traditional gendered patterns and behaviors
that we take for granted is a common one in feminist theory - for instance,
Anne Wilson Schaef [Women's Reality: an Emerging Female System in the
White Male Society Minneapolis: Winston Press 1981] compares patriarchy
to pollution, writing that "when you are in the midst of pollution,
you are usually unaware of it. . . you are not aware that pollution is not
natural until you remove yourself." (pp. 4-5)