Posted on 11/10/2009 11:28:59 AM PST by FreeManDC
Recently I attended a domestic violence conference hosted by a church in my community. "The Church's Role in Addressing Domestic Violence in the Faith Community," the glossy brochure explained.
The program featured a Proclamation by President Barack Obama filled with heart-rending language about the "devastating impact" of domestic violence on women and children. The conference included a workshop a dramatic presentation of The Yellow Dress, a play based on stories of women who were victims of dating violence.
I opted to screen a video called "Defending our Lives," featuring the accounts of five women incarcerated for murdering their partners. All insisted their lethal actions were taken solely in self-defense.
But from the beginning, it was clear an ideologically-fueled agenda was lurking in the background. Because research shows, over and over, that women are equally likely to aggress against their intimate partners.
The video commenced with a stark warning; "There is a war against women in this country."
Oh, really?
The video then claimed domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. That myth has been debunked by persons like professor Richard Gelles of the University of Pennsylvania who derides such claims "factoids from nowhere." (The actual causes of female death are accidental falls, motor vehicle accidents, and over-exertion.)
And then the coup de grace: "Battered women who kill have longer sentences than serial rapists."
The source of that outrageous factoid? Well, nobody seemed to know — and no one really cared. After all, we've got an epidemic of domestic violence on our hands, so any make-believe statistic will do.
The effect of the conference was to teach women to distrust and fear the men in their lives as latent, if not actual abusers. Husbands, boyfriends, brothers, even teenage sons — all are now suspect.
Also attending the conference were a State's Attorney and an aide to a federal Congressman. Realizing that women outnumber men in elections, politicians have become sympathetic to women's concerns these days.
As a result, almost every state in the country has domestic violence laws on the books that represent a flagrant suspension of American civil liberties. All a Scream Queen needs to do is play the abuse card, conjuring up a creative allegation that she knows may never require proof.
Two years ago a man in Stamford, Conn. was arrested for allegedly kicking his wife and throwing her down a flight of stairs. But it turned out to be a bogus accusation — the woman filed the charge hoping the restraining order would give her a leg-up in an impending divorce and custody hearing.
Not only did she file the spurious accusation, but then Superior Court Judge James Bingham denied the man's request for an evidentiary hearing.
Obviously there are fundamental Constitutional issues at stake. Doesn't the Fourth Amendment require probable cause before an arrest is made? Don't Fourteenth Amendment due process protections apply? Isn't stealing a man's children with the blessing of the family courts a form of "cruel and unusual punishment"?
So this past week, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled the man should have been granted an evidentiary hearing based on the preponderance of evidence standard.
Amazingly, the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which receives $2.4 million federal funding each year, argued against the Supreme Court ruling, saying it would have a "chilling effect" on victims. In truth, the ruling will have a chilling effect — on false accusers who should be stoutly punished for their scurrilous deeds.
Each year, over two million domestic violence restraining orders are issued in the United States. Half of them are based on not even an allegation of physical aggression, according to a study by the Massachusetts Trial Court. Dads are stigmatized as abusers, families dissolved, and kids thrown into single-parent households.
Eventually word gets out. Men get wind that marriage is a raw deal. Lose your kids, your home, and your assets, thanks to a baseless accusation.
Men begin to distrust and fear women.
That's the bitter fruit of our nation's $4 billion domestic violence industry.
Just another reason why I haven’t dated.
When a society turns its back against the Biblical tenets and instead embraces the lying dreck called liberalism then rotgut putrid fruits result as seen in so many warped, dysfunctional relationships.
Pure, simple, sickening, “Divide and Conquer” tactic used by the left in full force here.
how true this article is..all it takes is an allegation, with no proof and no basis in fact, for a man to lose his house, family, job and reputation while he spends time in jail and must spend thousands to defend himself, only to have the truth come out in the end, albeit far too late...in the meantime, the woman making the allegation walks away scott free and since there are penalties to pay and no punishment, she’d do it all over again..
I have met young single men, both divorced and never married, who are VERY wary of getting married because of what would probably happen to them in divorce court.
Me too.
Leftists live to divide. It’s what they do, divide and spread fear and anger.
But won’t you die earlier? You wouldn’t want to live a loveless life, would you?
"Almost 25% of the people surveyed — 28% of women and 19% of men — said there was some violence in their relationship. Women admitted perpetrating more violence (25% versus 11%) as well as being victimized more by violence (19% versus 16%) than men did. According to both men and women, 50% of this violence was reciprocal, that is, involved both parties, and in those cases the woman was more likely to have been the first to strike.
Violence was more frequent when both partners were involved, and so was injury — to either partner. In these relationships, men were more likely than women to inflict injury (29% versus 19%).
When the violence was one-sided, both women and men said that women were the perpetrators about 70% of the time. Men were more likely to be injured in reciprocally violent relationships (25%) than were women when the violence was one-sided (20%)."
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