From: Will Steeves <goid@zooid.guild.org>
Subject: Re: feminist sound bytes
X-To: HEINER BIESEL
Organization: The Zoo of Ids
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 01:34:00 GMT

biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel) writes...
HB> jean@cs.cornell.edu (Jean M. Petrosino) writes:

HB> ...[ deletiae ]...

HB> > I agree that although the number of reported incidences of men as
HB> >victims of domestic violence is low, the Biden committee should have at lea
HB> >considered including men into their legislation. BUT, what you left out was
HB> >that although 'women hit men as much as the reverse, and strike the first b
HB> >about as often', women and men hit differently.  This is where biology come
HB> >in.  Obviously, the average woman is physically smaller than the average ma
HB> >Most women who strike out physically are more likely to slap than to punch,
HB> >thus doing less damage than the average male who strikes with his fist. Not
HB> >mention that a man's bigger muscle mass will make him less susceptible to
HB> >serious damage from a smaller person such as a woman.
HB> >I am certainly not condoning any sort of violence, whether it is initiated
HB> >a male or a female.  What I'm saying is that until we as a society deal wit
HB> >the violence that pervades our lives, men and particularly women will conti
HB> >to be victimized.


HB> Hmmmmm... Food for thought. Random data point: the last time I was involved
HB> in an incident of domestic violence it came about through the intoxication
HB> of the woman involved, who did not want to take no for an answer. After perh
HB> 15 minutes of trying to fend her off I retired to a bedroom in the basement.
HB> Shortly thereafter she joined me. When I continued to fend off her inebriate
HB> attempts to make love she bit me rather hard on the arm. Small though she is
HB> the jaw muscles are strong enough. I reacted by slapping her once, and
HB> telling her never to do that again.

HB> What do you suppose happened after that? C'mon, it's easy, you know how our
HB> society works.

HB> She called 911, complained of domestic abuse, and got the sympathetic ear
HB> of the authorities. The cops arrived, guns drawn, ready to confront the
HB> violent abuser, whose sex was a foregone conclusion. Fortunately, I knew
HB> what to expect. I slowly opened the front door, raised my hands above my
HB> head, and meekly followed the instructions of the four policemen who had
HB> been dispatched. After being frisked I was spared the indignity of being
HB> handcuffed, perhaps because I did not quite fit the sterotype of the
HB> intoxicated wife-beater. Meanwhile, the woman in question had been placed
HB> in an ambulance, where her needs were being met by sympathetic servants
HB> of the state. The police questioned me about the incident, commenting that
HB> my version was somewhat at odds with her report, and upon seeing that I
HB> was not about to attack anyone, and noting the bleeding bite-mark on my
HB> arm, left me with a couple of pamphlets about domestic abuse, and the
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
HB> distinct feeling of having been screwed.


My, you certainly are the most unpredictable person on Usenet - One moment
more sarcastic than Drieux, and for the first paragraph and a half, I
*honestly* believed that you weren't being serious, and were preparing to set
up another sarcastic joke...  Was I ever wrong!

At any rate, I'll bet that the pamphlets that were given to you, were all
about men abusing women, right?  ("An Easy Ten Points..." indeed).  It would
have been interesting to see *any* pamphlets about domestic violence that
are *ACTUALLY* gender-neutral, but at least in Canada, I have seen *zero*
of them...

It's damn lucky that you had bite marks on you!  If you didn't, you'd have
spent the night in a jail cell and the next two years fighting off an assault
charge, and probably even an attempted rape charge.

---
Will Steeves, goid@zooid.guild.org                      "Neil Hull is GOiD"
ZOOiD BBS, Toronto, Ontario - The Zoo Of Ids            "GOiDS Rule"
(416) 322-7876

"Cthulhu for President in '92 - Why vote for the _lesser_ of two evils?"
                                                          - Bronis Vidugiris
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