Newsgroups: soc.men
Subject: Re: Twilight Zone Logic
From: rivero@mdcbbs.com (Michael Rivero)
Date: 11 Nov 92 10:12:30 PDT
Distribution: world
Organization: M&E (Division of EDS), Cypress CA

In article <BxIyHJ.9D3@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca>, dmcanzi@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (David Canzi) writes:
|> Excerpt from Men's Issues Newsbrief #60:
|> 
|> >WINNIPEG (CP) - Almost 40 per cent of women polled in a survey said they had
|> >physically abused their spouse, considerably more than the percentage of men
|> >making the same claim.  The research turns the popular belief about family
|> >violence on its head and will likely be "hotly challenged", says Rena Summer,
|> >one of the study's authors.
|> >
|> >Even the researchers were surprised, she admitted Thursday.  "These findings
|> >should cause people to rethink the whole nature of spousal abuse in terms of
|> >criminal justice, in terms of arrests," said Summer, a doctoral student in the
|> >University of Manitoba's family studies department.
|> >
|> >The findings run counter to extensive evidence that women are the main victims
|> >of family violence, said Huguette Leger of the National Action Committee on
|> >the Status of Women.  Leger pointed to the many criminal charges laid against
|> >men for beating or killing their partners, and the expanding network of
|> >battered women's shelters.  Men might be less likely than women to admit
|> >abusing their wives, perhaps because they consider it normal, she suggested.
|> |> 
|> As for the other evidence Leger quotes, in a society that considers
|> male violence against women very important and female violence against
|> men trivial, one would expect to see more men than women arrested for
|> spouse abuse, and more shelters for abused women than for abused men.
|> Leger's argument reduces to: society believes it, you should too.  In
|> other words, it's a general argument for accepting all your society's
|> beliefs, including its superstitions and prejudices.
|> -- 
|> David Canzi


(Nicely thought out, David)

  Leger's reasoning is circular to say the least. In the early 80's
the radfems created a media storm about the mythical epidemic of rape,
and used that media storm to acquire special laws and funding for rape 
centers.  When the original claims and "studies" were discredited, 
the radfems point to the rape centers and special laws and say that their
very existance "proves" the problem is as bad as they claimed.

  It's like a native claiming that the great god Ooblu
exists because there's a carved stone idol in the center of the village.

  Sounds like Leger's trying to put some "spin" on her unexpected results.



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|  Michael Rivero rivero@mdcbbs.com  "Middle-aged Mutant Ninja Animator" |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|     This is my last week at EDS (mdcbbs.com) and since I am planning   |
|    to run the animation shop as a full-time business (unless a higher  |
|    paying job comes along) I will be off the net for the near future.  |
|    I want to thank all the posters, my net-friends, and even my        |
|    net-enemies for having made this last year a most interesting and   |
|    colorful time!                                                      |
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Xref: sparky soc.men:18944 soc.women:19157 alt.feminism:4022