$4 Billion Abuse Industry Rooted in Deceptions and Lies

Renew America ^ | July 1, 2009 | Carey Roberts

[FreeManDC]

Erin Pizzey is a genial woman with snow-white hair, cherubic cheeks, and an easy smile. It wasn't always that way. The daughter of an English diplomat, she founded the world's first shelter for battered women in 1971. To her surprise, she discovered that most of the women in her shelter were as violent as the men they had left.

When Pizzey wrote a book revealing this sordid truth, she encountered a firestorm of protest. "Abusive telephone calls to my home, death threats, and bomb scares, became a way of living for me and for my family. Finally, the bomb squad asked me to have all my mail delivered to their head quarters," she would later reveal.

According a recent report, the domestic violence industry continues to engage in information control tactics, spewing a dizzying series of half-truths, white lies, and outright prevarications. The report, "Fifty Domestic Violence Myths," is published by RADAR, Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting: http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport-50-DV-Myths.pdf

How often have you heard the mantra-like claim, "domestic violence is all about power and control"? That's code for the feminist dogma that domestic violence is rooted in men's insatiable need to dominate and oppress the women in their lives.

And the obvious solution to partner abuse? Eliminate the patriarchy!

I know it all sounds far-fetched, but that's what the gender ideologues who get their funding from the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) believe. And no surprise these programs have been an abject failure. As Dr. Angela Parmley of the Department of Justice once admitted, "We have no evidence to date that VAWA has led to a decrease in the overall levels of violence against women."

Once you blame the whole problem of partner abuse on patriarchal dominance, the women who proudly call themselves the "VAWA Mafia" find themselves compelled to dress up the fable with a series of corollary myths.

Here are some examples: When a woman attacks her boyfriend, claim she was only acting in self-defense. Shrug off her assault with the "He had it coming" line. Aver her short stature prevents her from ever hurting her man. Or assert she grew up in an abusive household, as if that somehow lets her off the hook.

Above all, the ideologues will never admit that partner violence is more common among lesbians than heterosexual couples. Just consider the case of Jessica Kalish, the 56-year-old Florida woman who was stabbed 222 times last October with a Phillips screwdriver wielded by ex-girlfriend Carol Anne Burger. But no one dared call it "domestic violence."

Once you begin to play tricks with the truth, you need to invent ever grander prevarications. So sit back and get ready for a good chuckle, because there's not a shred of truth to any of these claims regularly put forth by the domestic abuse industry:

1. A marriage license is a hitting license. (Truth is, an intact marriage is the safest place for men and women alike.)

2. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. (The leading causes of female injury are unintentional falls, motor vehicle accidents, and over-exertion. Domestic violence is not even on the list.)

3. The March of Dimes reports that battering is the leading cause of birth defects. (The March of Dimes has never done such a study.)

4. Women never make false allegations of domestic violence. (That's the biggest whopper of all.)

5. Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for violence against women. (Will the abuse industry never tire of its demagoguery?)

These are just five of the 50 domestic violence myths documented in the RADAR report. As former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once deadpanned, "You're entitled to your own opinions; you're not entitled to your own facts." Hopefully the $4 billion partner abuse industry will begin to pay attention.

[Oldexpat]

This act encourages women to charge their husband with domestic violence in divorce cases. It works..they get the kids, a restraining order and him thrown in jail. They get a free lawyer. By the time he fights his way out of this hole he is broke and maybe can’t find work because of the domestic violence charge. The woman then gets welfare.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Hopefully the $4 billion partner abuse industry will begin to pay attention.

Wishes, horses, and all that . . .

Nobody is entitled to the presumption of wisdom or objectivity - no one. We-the-people each have the individual right to believe who we wanna. The fact that the "Associated Press" created what it likes to call "the press" as a mominally diverse but actually unitary entity is what has produced the illusion of "objectivity" in journalism. From the illusion of the objectivity of journalism, and from the natural tendency of the journalist (like everyone else) to exaggerate his own importance, the leftism of American politics naturally flows.

The Right to Know

[ikka]

My then-gf now wife, had a bruise that she got (don't remember how) that was visible.

When she went into university, every single woman in the faculty or part of the administration was pulling her aside, asking if I beat her, if she was OK, etc. etc.

[dangerdoc]

bump

[Emmett McCarthy]

Yes, indeed. It is an integral part of the entire dismantling of any notion of “truth” in the sense of factuality. The secular “truth”, not the ultimate Truth.

[Graybeard58]

Recently my wife was tugging on the side of a rather large kiddy pool, her hand slipped off and she punched herself in the eye, resulting in a black eye.

When we are together, I get “the look” from some.