Portion of 2005 "Call to Action" poster from PCADV*

Human relationships are not a matter of political solutions.  Any country that has tried to create a political solution to human problems has ended up with concentration camps and gulags. – Erin Pizzey, founder of the international women’s shelter movement

The 2005 document put out by the NCADV with federal funding to suggest themes for Domestic Violence Awareness Month is entitled, Action for Social Change. For 111 pages, this PDF goes on about things like the language used to talk about the issues, finding new groups of victims to claim, and items such as graphic diagrams of the special ways handicapped and elderly women, even babies are victimized. There are sources cited that once again blame men and the “patriarchy” for the continuing oppression of women.

One article is entitled, Social Change to End Violence Against Women (or to Reclaim Women’s Sovereignty) The title says it all. This is the first time we’ve seen a publicly-available document that alludes to the truth behind this movement.

These kinds of documents often seem as if these groups are trying to convince themselves, if you can find your way through the circuitous illogic and often simply meaningless discussions. If you are expecting anything of a practical nature relating to news of successful new programs, progress in research and the like, forget it. It’s a slightly different arrangement of the same old song, which ultimately has nothing to do with helping people in toxic relationships and everything to do with promoting a Marxist political agenda at any cost. Read the entire document if you can, because it illustrates in a way that is undeniable that this document was written by people with extremist points of view.

 A few years ago it was obvious that programs for adults under 65 were quite different from those for children and the elderly. Child and elder abuse programs made no differentiation between who could be a victim and who could be an abuser. They reflected the reality that these are not gender issues, or political issues, but human problems and were dealt with as such. As time goes on, however, these programs are beginning to see the effects of  feminists and their misandric notions that only females are abused and only males can be abusers. This will no doubt have disastrous consequences if we continue to believe that the feminists in place in today’s programs are experts who have any idea what they are talking about.

One particular passage stood out:

Advocates working with victims and survivors of domestic violence see the extreme manifestations of the culture of patriarchy – physical abuse, psychological terror, sexual assault and coercion, emotional and mental cruelty, intimidation, stalking and severe humiliation.

This is the backdrop against which they do crisis intervention, safety management and resource juggling, often on a daily basis. In such an environment of emergency response and demand, it may be difficult to see the inter-connected dimensions of violence against women as they relate to individual battered women’s experiences. One way to breach this gulf is to go beyond what we have always known about domestic violence, survival, advocacy and community organizing and look for evolved definitions and re-evaluate existing models for support and safety. (emphasis mine)

In other words, if you begin to think maybe some women aren’t being battered under current definitions, make something up.

A 2006 or any subsequent issue did not appear; publicly, at least...

When feminists began their shelter programs in the 1970s, they were often started by groups with legal or political focus. That is why most all the agencies we have and the approach we use has been thru laws and government programs. Feminists simply have no other way of approaching any issue.  Perhaps they truly believe that the intervention of the state, and laws dictating the way human relationships should be conducted, is feasible and desirable. It is difficult to ascertain what it is that feminists do believe, as there is so much contradiction there, if you’ve read a variety of feminist writers. In any case, approaches to both victim and abuser include solutions that require the government to deal with the issue. The concepts of self-reliance, personal desires, or individuality are actively discouraged, even prevented, once a couple finds themselves under the control of a system that provides the same solution for all regardless of the nature and severity of their problem.

To give you a bit of insight into the mindset that has prevailed, here is a quote from lawyer and activist Barbara Hart, taken from a speech she made at a 1999 gala to honor her accomplishments in the field. In addition to a copious amount of written material on DV, she was also the Legal Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Associate Director of the Battered Women's Justice Project, and was part of what is often described as the “birthing” of the NCADV.

I am also a battered woman. I am a freedom-loving woman. I am also a battered woman. We are a freedom-seeking people. I am a woman with great rage. I am also a battered woman. We are a people enraged against the tyranny of violence against women. I am a revolutionary woman. I am also a battered woman. We are political people intent on changing the world to end violence against women. I am a woman filled with love for battered women, children and their allies. I am a battered woman. We are a people with great compassion and great capacity to love those oppressed by male violence. I am a hopeful woman. I'm also a battered woman. We are a people hopeful that men who use violence to terrorize and dominate their partners, their children, and those who are different from them can learn respect from the women and all the oppressed people and can stop their violence. I'm a visionary woman. I am also a battered woman. We are a people of richly diverse races, cultures and national origins. I am an old woman. I am also a battered woman. We are a people spanning many generations. I am also a battered woman. I am a daughter, sister…I am a woman of action. I am also a battered woman. We are people acting daily in small and enormous ways to end the violence and bring justice and safety to battered women.

One must recognize that her abusive relationship ended decades before the speech, because it may appear she is talking about a recent or current problem. For whatever reasons, she chose not to move on or put the  issue to rest; rather, she chose to allow the fact she was once abused to define and color her life and vocation. This is typical of many of those in the women’s shelter movement.
 

* Note: while the above poster for 2005 Domestic Violence Awareness Month includes a few men, there is no mention of specific aid for male victims elswhere at the PCADV site.

Tomorrow: Batterer's programs   (Part Two)

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five