What does this have to do with referring to Abraham?
Beyond which, there's a strong class bias to
similar (if less extreme) statistics in the
States, and I'm guessing the same is true in
Britain and Australia. Educated middle class
women in their 30s working the same hours make
about the same amount as educated middle class
men their age--less than men overall, because
there are more older men in better jobs, and the
near-equality in this area is of recent vintage.
So maybe that class disparity ought to be more of
the focus rather than worrying about a turn of
phrase, or the fact that men bond by dissing
women and women bond by dissing men.
Some of the issues you raise are enormously
complex, though it may be comforting to simplify
them. But here's a simple one: there will always
be violence, most violence is committed against
people known to the perpetrator, and bigger
people successfully beat on smaller people. One
can intervene in various ways--education, change
in economic roles, etc. I doubt that your
pointing out what you consider a patriarchal
(that chronically misused term) reference will be
a particularly effective intervention.
It happens that I've been active in fighting
gender discrimination and violence for many
years, sometimes at considerable personal risk.
Best not to make too many assumptions.
Spouting statistics uncritically is
self-indulgence. It's also a form of self-congratulation.
At 05:51 PM 3/29/2006, you wrote:
>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
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