Respectful relationships or 'boy-bashing'?

Medianet Release
05 Mar 2010 5:00 AM - Respectful relationships or 'boy-bashing'? Media release - for immediate release - Friday March 5th 2010 Respectful relationships or ‘boy-bashing’? Respect is a two-way street – but Wednesday’s announcement of Federal funding from the $9.3 million allocation to “respectful relationship” programs appears designed to target only boys as potential perpetrators of violence in relationships. Yet Australian research shows that girls are as likely to practice dating violence as boys – and that violence by girls towards boys is seen as more acceptable than is violence by boys against girls. University of Western Sydney researcher Micheal Woods said, “By appearing to focus upon gender as the cause of relationship violence and abuse, these programs ignore the internationally accepted evidence that other causes play a much larger part. The social determinants that can lead to abusive relationships include social disadvantage, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, and inadequate conflict management and affect regulation skills.” “The approach behind this campaign is at odds with the Prime Minister’s preference for evidence-based policies – this roll-out of funding appears to support biased gender ideology, not social good. The denigration of boys as belonging to a “violent” gender – and the implicit approval for violence by girls against boys – undermines the intent of reducing violence in relationships,” said Mr Woods. Melbourne psychologist, Dr Elizabeth Celi, said, “Do we want our young girls thinking that slapping a male friend or boyfriend, throwing objects at him, kicking or scratching him with her nails is OK? Research clearly shows that females as well as males, at school and university age, are violent toward their partners and schoolmates. Why are we staying silent about this issue? Young women saying ‘Stop!’ to their girlfriends slapping or verbally abusing their male friends or boyfriends is just as important a message to teach our kids.” Anti-violence campaign One in Three spokesperson Greg Andresen said, “Respectful relationships education is an essential part of the school curriculum. However, conflating ‘respectful relationships’ and ‘violence against women’ implies that disrespect in relationships only leads to males abusing females. Why is the government ignoring the 50 per cent of relationships in which girls physically and psychologically abuse their boyfriends? We are concerned that these ‘respectful relationships’ programs are really just boy-bashing exercises in disguise.” Data released today by One in Three reveals that: 21 per cent of physical violence between dating partners of university age during 2005-6 in Australia was perpetrated by females only, 14 per cent by males only and 64.9 per cent was mutual violence (where both partners used violence against each other) [source] Young males and females aged 12 to 20 were equally likely to have experienced domestic violence or forced sex by a partner [source] Young people were just as likely to have seen Mum hit Dad as they were to have seen Dad hit Mum [source] 25 per cent of young people agreed with the statement “When a girl hits a guy it’s really not a big deal.” While males hitting females was seen by virtually all young people surveyed to be unacceptable, it appeared to be quite acceptable for a girl to hit a boy [source] Young males were more likely than young females to have experienced bullying, punch-ups between people at school/college, drunken fights in pubs/clubs and racial violence [source] Young females were more likely than young males to have experienced rape/sexual assault & ‘bitching’ [source]. The One in Three Campaign aims to raise public awareness of the existence and needs of male victims of family violence and abuse; to work with government and non-government services alike to provide assistance to male victims; and to reduce the incidence and impacts of family violence on Australian men, women and children. MEDIA CONTACTS Micheal Woods, Adjunct Fellow, University of Western Sydney, 0414 710 696 or m.woods@uws.edu.au Dr Elizabeth Celi, Psychologist and Author, 0413 338 237 or info@qualityliving.com.au Greg Andresen, One in Three spokesperson and Senior Researcher, 0403 813 925 or info@oneinthree.com.au Please see the following files attached: [One_in_Three_Media_Release_RR10.pdf] Distributed by AAP Medianet JN#:647965 E-G
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Woman charged with killing husband is lobbyist for a Domestic Violence Group

Here's an interesting case of a lobbyist for a Domestic Violence group in Georgia, USA who was also a hit person and "whacked" her husband. These groups are hypocritical in the extreme and many just plain corrupt using mendacity to keep the tax dollars flowing. This is a new twist where an operative gets caught not only in a lie but for DV Homicide.MJM

By Rhonda Cook and Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

5:25 p.m. Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of five days, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence.

Arelisha Bridges was ordered held without bond in the Fulton County Jail. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing later this month on charges of felony murder, murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Officials said Bridges claimed she was unemployed. But records show she is a lobbyist for an organization called the National Declaration for Domestic Violence Order; its Web site says the group is pushing legislation to create a database of those convicted of sex crimes or domestic abuse.

Usually an accused felon will appear at a preliminary hearing a day later, but Bridges' hearing was within hours of the shooting death of Anthony Rankins. Officials said the court appearance was moved up because of the unusual circumstances around the crime.

Witnesses told police that Bridges was wearing a nightgown and a shower cap as she argued with Rankins on the sidewalk on North Avenue near West Peachtree Street around 10:45 p.m. Monday.

And moments later, witnesses said, they heard shots. They said she then "calmly walked away."
A MARTA police officer stopped her as she was getting into her car, perhaps to return to her home nearby on Centennial Olympic Park Drive.

According to Atlanta police, Bridges told investigators that she and Rankins had been dating for a few months and were just married on Feb. 24.

Bridges' group isn't among the prominent domestic violence lobbying groups in Georgia, said Kirsten Rambo, the executive director of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence.
 
"This is the first I've heard about that organization," Rambo said. "I certainly couldn't say if they were legitimate or not," she said, adding, "It's certainly a new name to me."

Bridges has filed sparse lobbying expenses, according to State Ethics Commission records. So far this year, she's reported spending $20 -- for parking while lobbying for the abuse database.

-- Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.

Find this article at:

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/woman-charged-with-killing-344266.html