On 30/3/06 7:01 AM, "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I presume that you're trying to be funny. Just in case, this kind of
> feminism is the self-indulgence of the privileged.
Maybe if we can get rape convictions up above a world average of 2.7 per
cent (less than 1 per cent in Britain) a result, as is generally agreed, of
the structural bias of the justice system, we can talk about self
indulgence. Maybe if women's salaries weren't on average 15 per cent lower
than men's, even for the same work, we could talk about self indulgence.
Maybe if 77 per cent of domestic violence murders were not men killing
women, we could talk about self indulgence.
And here's a good quote on the so-called "equality" of violence between
women and men from Pru Goward, Australia's Sex Discrimination Officer:
Involving men in anti-violence work can be difficult however, because some
men believe that women beat men as often as men beat women. They argue
domestic violence campaigns are the work of men-hating feminists. This is
despite official homicide figures which demonstrate that 77% of murders in
Australia between intimate partners involve a man killing a woman; 21%
involve a woman killing a man. One government survey found that 50.5% of
women victims reported being physically hurt compared with 1.5% of men.
While it is clear that claims of equalı amounts and types of violence are
at best mistaken and at worst malevolent, anyone involving themselves in
this campaign should anticipate this response and be ready to stand their
ground.
Of course domestic violence with women as perpetrators, slapping, hitting,
even stabbing, must be acknowledged. The verbal bullying frequently
associated with women, the cold treatment, the stories of men being
physically harassed by women, are all on the continuum of domestic
violence. But they are not murder.
The point to make is this: being anti-violence against women does not mean
you are pro-violence towards men, or that you do not support the prevention
of violence against men or support for male victims. One does not preclude
the other, but we must always acknowledge the evidence, which shows it is
overwhelmingly the case that women are more likely to be victims, and men
more likely to be perpetrators.
Men have a stake in their effort to tackle violence against women because
as UNIFEM points out some menıs violence against women gives all men a
bad name.
By doing nothing, men give their tacit approval of violence against women,
and in doing so they diminish the status of men as well as the status of
women.
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
|
