markp i think the argument proposed is that you can't seperate male violence against women from violence fullstop, let alone from male violence. To ignore the latter in order to concentrate on the former will achieve nothing. Speak out against violence in all forms or it will simply continue to fester if somehow magically expected to be banished in just one form.markp wrote:Who is denying women can be and are violent, and towards men?
Who? Where?
What we've got here is an alleged act of violence by a man against a woman (and if you can't accept the events as reported or alleged as violence, then geez....) and several people addressing the discussion in those terms.
But some other people seem to have a real problem with that, when I'd have thought it's entirely reasonable.
Somehow it's not ok to even have a seperate discussion about, or category of violence against women.
Maybe you have a problem with breast cancer awareness campaigns too, because men also get breast cancer, and prostate cancer... or save the whales, because there are other endangered creatures out there.
Talk about your men's issues all you like, but why (and how can you) deny and denigrate the issue of male on female violence?
My sister (a pretty strong feminist that works with domestic offenders) sees violence as mainly prepertrated through control, and physical violence is actually pretty low in comparison. She sees it mainly as a male against female phenonemon - mainly due to traditional norms whereby the man is king of the house. These norms must be shattered. But we differ, her and I, on where the focus should be. I believe in approaching it from a gender neutral perspective because, as she admits, the traditional 'masculine' role is sometimes taken by the female. To ignore victims on the basis of gender is discrimination and allows the problem to continue.