Liberals have become the unapologetic predators of women, gleefully playing on their fears and psychological vulnerabilities, all in the name of curbing domestic violence. Of course women's only hope lies in heavy-handed state intervention.
Before proceeding, I will warn you this column is filled with high-octane statements made by the willfully dishonest, the social schemers, and the patently unhinged. As you wade through the claims, keep in mind two facts.
First, all forms of violent crime have fallen dramatically in the past 30 years. The incidences of rape, intimate partner homicide, and non-fatal partner violence are now half what they were in 1980. We've made tremendous progress in the last three decades and everyone should be feeling a lot safer.
Second, research shows women are more likely than men to instigate partner violence — http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a . But that's one of those inconvenient truths the liberals will never concede.
Let's start with the willfully dishonest.
A few months ago Human Rights Watch issued a press release with the screaming headline, "Soaring Rates of Rape and Violence against Women." The release claims a recent Department of Justice report shows "huge increases" in domestic violence and rape. "The numbers in this survey show an alarmingly high rate of sexual violence in this country," throbs the HRW drumbeat.
Want to know what the Justice report really says? In 2007, "The rates for every major violent and property crime...were at or near the lowest levels recorded since 1973."
So how does Human Rights Watch get away with such a misleading claim? Because three years ago the Justice Department fine-tuned its survey methods, causing an anomaly in its crime numbers. The DoJ report emphasizes the apparent uptick in rapes does "not appear to be due to changes in the rate of criminal activity during this period." But apparently the Human Rights Watch people decided to skip over that particular sentence.
You can see the Ms.-Information here: www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/18/us-soaring-rates-rape-and-violence-against-women And here's the Justice report: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv07.pdf
Next up, the social schemers.
To drive home the message of men as inveterate abusers, the domestic violence industry has organized a series of high-profile "awareness months." January is Stalking Awareness Month. February is when we focus on Teen Dating, when couples can celebrate Valentine's Day by watching a performance of the Vagina Monologues. March is Women's History Month, so anything goes then. April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And June? Soon that will be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
So ladies, after all those Take Back the Night rallies, you'll be so scared that you will have divorced your husband, hired a security guard, and taken up residence in a lock-down facility. All these consciousness-raising events are taxpayer-funded, thanks to the federal Violence Against Women Act.
Now ready for the unhinged? I'll warn you, this gets wild.
A few weeks ago the National Organization for Women of New York State issued a press release on a pending hate crime bill. Mind you, hate crimes are already illegal in New York, so you'd think things have been taken care of. But no, the NOW isn't about to let go of such a juicy issue.
The NOW leads off with some old fashioned demagoguery: "Men who assault their wives are living up to cherished Western cultural prescriptions." Not only that, "we cannot deny that women are in a class by themselves, discriminated against, hated, used, disrespected, and abused." Yes, life is grim when the federal government doles out a measly $1 billion for abuse-reduction programs.
Now hold on, it's about to get hallucinogenic...
"In the hospital, from the time parents scream 'it's a girl!' they begin to ask themselves how they willl keep their little girl and woman-to-be from the violence that many women face," the NOW explains. That's right, why waste time celebrating your precious new arrival when you should be worrying about domestic violence? Let's hold a shelter fundraiser right here in the nursery!
To top it off, the NOW-NYS demands, "When a police officer is called to the scene of a violent assault against a woman by her husband/partner or stranger, the officer should arrest the perpetrator of the 'hate crime.' And this mandated arrest needs to be judicially enforced." http://www.nownys.org/pr_2009/pr_022609.html
Of course we needn't worry about probable cause or due process. Once we declare war on the national epidemic of partner abuse, normal constitutional guarantees are no longer in effect. And don't you dare mention that the perpetrator turned out to be the victim's jealous lesbian heartthrob.
Just imagine, these are the same women who boast when the Sisterhood takes over, tolerance, fairness, and understanding will finally prevail.
© Carey Roberts
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