France mulls 'psychological violence' ban

BBC.com ^ | Jan. 4, 2010 | David Chazan

[Beaten Valve]

If you insult your wife or husband repeatedly, you could soon find yourself in court if you live in France.

The charge? Psychological violence.

That's what the new offence will be called if a bill backed by the government is passed by parliament.

Once considered a purely private domain, rows between married or cohabiting couples could now prompt intervention from the state.

The French government wants to take the controversial step of introducing a new law banning "psychological violence" between married couples or partners living together.

But there are questions about how such an offence could be proved.

[Beaten Valve]

Does this mean that pointing the finger at your spouse would now be against the law?

[muawiyah]

France? People exchanging bad words? Snotty to tourists? Snotty to the sous chef? Snotty to the waiter? ~ oh, no ~ the end is near.

[muawiyah]

France? People exchanging bad words? Snotty to tourists? Snotty to the sous chef? Snotty to the waiter? ~ oh, no ~ the end is near.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Completely insane.

[mrmeyer]

Thought crime?

[C210N]

Will it soon be considered cheating on your college metaphysical exam if you happen to look within the soul of the person taking the exam right beside you?

[dwg2]

Does that mean that the wife can’t give me “the look”? I’ll be so relieved.

[Da Coyote]

Then the French movie industry is in deep trouble - ‘cuz their products certainly cause psy-damage.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

a new law banning "psychological violence"

Lie. People need to understand the difference between civil law & criminal law.

The story here is criminalizing x. Not hand-wavy "banning".

Creating new criminals that didn't exist before. It's one of pillars of marxism. Law-abiders are hard to control.

Like selling someone else's copyright criminalized. With all other IP, it's purely a civil matter, even if company X sells millions of company Y's patent, making billions of dollars more than some petty copyright infringer. A clear case of creating "criminals" for special interests.

[Star Traveler]

I've seen the psychological violence type of thing and it's not pretty and it's sort of like the Stockholm Syndrome in a way (but not the same thing), except there's legal approval for it.

I don't think it's going to help things by having the state intervene. I would rather have it so that help can be given through agencies that deal in that kind of stuff, and as I have seen in the past with some work I did in that area. It was a Christian ministry and was not infested with a bunch of psychological mumbo-jumbo, but worked from the Word of God to help people, plus giving tangible help in the way of shelter (for both men and women).

[nmh]

It will be SUBJECTIVE.

This is the way LIBERALS like it. They will pick and chose who is “guilty” based on their ideology. If the person agrees with them, no crime. If they don't, you'll nearly be crucified.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Don’t they already have provisions concerning mental cruelty, harassment, or the like? This sounds redundant.

[jimt]

You’re right that it won’t help to have the state intervene.

But private agencies may or may not help either. A ministry based approach could work where both partners are believers, or even not believers if the counselor makes sense and is working for the good of both parties.

I’ve experienced the psycho-babble type from a feminist “social worker” my ex and I were paying. As we left her office for the last time, my comment to the ex was “What did she do with her husband’s balls after she cut them off ?”

The idea of a witch like that backed by the power of the state is terrifying.

[Marie2]

While I believe psychological violence is real, I also think it can’t be proved. So I would not support a law against it.

[sportutegrl]

So I guess Renaults flambe’ are no longer a problem.

[Bigg Red]

The article says that 3 women per week die in France after being assaulted by their “partners” or “ex-partners”. I wonder how many are mohammedans.

They have mohammedans killing their wives, their daughters, and unrelated mohammedan women who dress western style, yet French lawmakers are addressing this nonsense. Good grief!

[Savage Beast]

France is in an advanced state of decay.

Decadence slouches on.

[Chode]

she said he said... PROVE IT!!!

[Hildy]

Just more evidence of what happens when God is taken out of Society. The State believes they can legislate BEHAVIOR. It never works, never has never will this is just plane stupid and I thought it was a joke when I first saw it. But no, leave it to the French to come up with something as kooky as this.

But here's a dilemma...what if a Muslim woman comes forward and the man says it's his religious freedom to browbeat his wife...who do you think will win?

[Savage Beast]

"...leave it to the French to come up with something as kooky as this."

Uh...remember a few years ago when Santa Cruz, California outlawed hate??? Have you heard how that's working?