Karen Ingala Smith: On men's violence and inequality between men and women

[YoungDemCA]

All men benefit from inequality between women and men. This doesn’t mean that some women are not in more advantageous positions than some men. It doesn’t mean all men are the same. It doesn’t mean that all women are the same. It doesn’t mean that sex is the only important basis for inequality. It doesn’t mean that everyone wants it to be that way.

Men’s violence against women is a cause and consequence of inequality between women and men. It doesn’t have to be that way. If enough of us decide to do things differently we can change the world. Men don’t have to be violent, towards women or other men. Men can end male violence if enough of them want to. The thing is, this won’t happen if too many men – and/or women – refuse to see that men’s violence is a problem. The changes that will reduce men’s violence against women will also reduce men’s violence against other men, they will probably also reduce women’s violence.

I want to see an end to men’s violence against women. What this means is “I want to see an end to men’s violence against women.” It doesn’t mean that I do not care about other forms of violence. It doesn’t mean that I do not feel any compassion towards male victims of violence. It doesn’t mean that I don’t care or that I celebrate if men are killed – and that is true whether they’re killed by a woman, or, as is more likely, by another man.

Source: http://kareningalasmith.com/2014/01/18/talking-about-mens-violence-i-think-ive-been-here-before/

[redqueen]

1. I love this:

Earlier this week I tweeted this: “Anybody pushing a gender neutral approach to domestic – or sexual – violence is just a male violence enabler.” Imagine my surprise when (mostly) men didn’t seem to like it. The responses are nothing new and as yet never original, so, as a result, I’ve written this to save me the bother of repeating the same thing over and over again because I am not going to stop talking about men’s violence against women and I don’t suppose men are going to stop finding that objectionable.

Side note: This is the woman who started the Counting Dead Women campaign which I mentioned earlier in another thread.

[Squinch]

2. I am becoming more and more convinced that

the next wave in equality has to come from men, and has to be about changing the messages that men give to other men.

The alpha male idea has to be scrubbed.

The idea of force as the currency of power among men has to be scrapped.

The insistence in our media and among some men that the bad behavior of men is the fault of women has to be stopped.