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| Frownin' on bitch slappin' | |
Everyone knows that white men abuse their wives and girlfriends. They must
do. We've seen it on those television advertisements. You know - those
taxpayer funded ads to 'raise awareness' of the epidemic of white male violence. Clearly the white
male is aggressive, unreasonable, and a potential rapist and murderer. Funny, just a few short months ago we were hearing of an epidemic of
violence in Aboriginal
communities. Many families were 'affected' by domestic violence.
Apparently there were no drunken Aboriginal men beating the living daylights of
out their terrified wives and children in that case. Of
course not. The families were merely 'affected' by domestic violence, or even
'seriously affected' by domestic violence. The reasons were unclear (but probably was the fault of a group of white
males somewhere), and the solution was even less clear (but presumably involved
white males giving more money to Aboriginal social workers to try to
gain a better understanding of the problem). Prime time TV ads didn't portray any Aboriginal men beating up their wives. And just a few short years ago we were hearing of the epidemic of abuse of
young Muslim girls who were
having their genitals mutilated by fathers who didn't want them disgracing
their families by growing up with an interest in sex. We weren't really
presented with a solution then, but more money for social workers would
probably have been well regarded. Those programs vanished from the SBS and the
ABC as soon as people started
questioning the morality of subsidizing an ideology which promoted genital
mutilation. And of course after September-11, there could
be no criticism of Islamic ideology. And the prime time TV ads didn't portray any Muslims mutilating their
daughter's genitals. The feminist movement, which used to hold up female genital mutilation as
the strongest proof of a male dominated society repressing women, quietly
changed tack. The feminist movement's silence on genital mutilation of the last
few years has been deafening. But those of us who thought this silence was proof that feminism was dead have been a
bit shocked. Like the enraged resurrected zombies in Dawn of the Dead, the
feminist movement has come back and bitten the hand that feeds it with a
vengeance worthy of a rabid dog. Every abuser on the recent spate of 'anti violence' ads has, of course,
been a white male. How representative. And the ABC has backed it up with interviews of articulate and supposedly
intelligent women who speak of being in abusive relationships for many years,
and who (in spite of being intelligent and articulate) were presumably unable
to walk out of the relationships because of the mythical 'battered wife
syndrome' which makes everyone else responsible for the decisions they make. Of course no-one actually asks these women why they are so attracted to
these men in the first place. The reality is that many women are attracted to
violent men - how many footballers or gangsters need to advertise in the
personals? If you lie with dogs, expect fleas. If you marry a man who likes to beat
people up - expect some bruises. It doesn't give you the right to steal other
people's money and use it to vilify white males. Doubtless this will be followed by a round of demands for more affirmative action
for middle-class women in the public service. Another example of greed and self
interest posing as compassion.
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