Harry Reid Discovers Domestic Violence
February 23, 2010
by Amy Siskind
|After hearing barely the utterance of a women’s issue out of Harry Reid’s mouth for as long as I can recall, imagine my surprise yesterday to hear Senator Reid speaking out on domestic violence.
What you might ask gave Senator Reid this epiphany on this escalating crisis in our country? While violence generally in our country has been flat to down for the better part of a decade, violence against women continues to soar. And of course, the untold crisis of teen dating violence continues to froth unnoticed by politicians like Senator Reid. Here’s some recent stats put out by MADE (Moms and Dads for Education to Stop Teen Dating Abuse), or which TNA is a national partner:
- 1 in 3 teens who have been in a dating relationship have experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, or threats of physical harm.
- 1 in 2 of all 14 – 24 year olds has been the target of some form of digital abuse.
- Nearly 1 in 4 teens in a relationship have texted or called their partner hourly between midnight and 5:00 AM.
So what, pray tell got Senator Reid’s attention to the crisis of domestic violence? He was using women and this issue today to try to pass his jobs bill. Disgusting! Politico reports:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pushed for a $15 billion jobs bill Monday by suggesting that unemployed men are more likely to abuse their wives.
“Men when they’re out of work tend to become abusive,” Reid said as he argued in favor of a cloture vote on the jobs bill. “I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand. Why? Men don’t have jobs. Women don’t have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time. Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive. Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed.”
Really Senator Reid? Were those shelters not jammed in 2008? Domestic violence has been on the sharp rise since the recession began. Where were you then Senator Reid? And more importantly, where will you be tomorrow morning on this issue after your job bill has passed?
We should expect and demand better.
Email Senator Reid and tell him domestic abuse is a national crisis – both for women and girls. And if he plans to use this issue for political means, he had better plan to fight for us too!
Men out of work tend to use it as an excuse to beome abusive. Being out of work doesn’t somehow mysteriously make you abusive- plenty of women have lost their jobs, and they don’t take it out on innocent people. Men can do the same- they don’t deserve jobs just because they act like thugs when they aren’t employed.
We should give men what they want because, if we don’t, they will hit us? That is terrorism, plain and simple. We should give women jobs so they can leave these abusive losers.
Arrrggg, that is so disgusting. Exploiting domestic violence for political purposes. If you don’t vote for my jobs bill, more women will be beaten and murdered.
If job loss and poverty caused violent behavior, women would be out on the streets mowing down innocent civilians on a regular basis. How come we’re supposed to deal and cope with our finances without going postal? Shouldn’t they be doing something about that 77 cents for every dollar before we start shooting people?
And what was Chris Brown’s excuse, he was upset he didn’t earn enough interest on his millions?
Any man that would try to hurt you because he’s experiencing hard times doesn’t need a job, he needs to go to jail. His wife or girlfriend is the one who needs to job so she can leave the jerk behind. The kind of man who would completely disregard the fact that she is also experiencing the economic stress and instead of being supportive, would choose to add being abused to her list of problems to deal with, is no man at all.
What do you expect from a Democrat? These are the same people who say women have to vote for them because the evil Republicans will take away your reproductive rights and then they sell out women’s Reproductive rights. That is why I now prefer Republicans, they flat out tell you to your face you don’t deserve to have reproductive choice, the Democrats lie at you while they mock women and sell us out.
During this “man-cession” in which the vast majority of lay offs were in male-dominated industries, Democrats have chosen to kick men while they are down by calling them abusive.
Apart from being demeaning and sexist, this statement is factually incorrect. Study after study prove that men are no more likely to be abusive or physically aggressive in relationships than women: http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
But of course feminists choose to feel victimized even by the blatant misandry displayed by Mr. Reid, which was presumably calculated to play to feminist prejudice. Is there anything that doesn’t make feminists feel like victims I wonder?
Losing a job is stressful, and domestic violence is a wholly sexist way of relieving stress.
Oh good grief! Women do not abuse men at equal rates. If that were true we would have dead and battered men all over the place. We do not. Unfortunately it is usually women getting maimed and killed.
Of course loosing a job is stressful, but domestic violence cuts across all social and economic groups. Domestic violence is not a symptom of too much daily stress, it’s a learned behavior that often begins in childhood. There are just as many wealthy abusers as there are poor men on unemployment.
I suppose somebody better let Harry Reid’s wife know he’s about to become unemployed. Maybe John Edwards was suffering financially? Maybe Montserrate in the NY senate pre-emptively slashed up his girlfriend because he feared future job loss? Chris Brown worried about poverty?
It’s pretty revealing, that professor shot her coworkers and nobody would even think to suggest that it was all because she didn’t get a raise, was denied tenure. Well, that’s exactly what we imply when we say men abuse their wives because of financial stress. It doesn’t cut it when it comes to that woman who went on a rampage and it doesn’t cut it when it comes to men who abuse women.
Jim,
You sound like your playingthe victim by attacking feminists. Do you really believe women have it easier in society than men do, even during good economic times? Would you trade places with a woman and be willing to deal with the daily prejudices she has to face every day and never protest the integral injustices heaped upon them by men whose main concern is to assert their power by controlling women? Your defensive response clearly shows that you aren’t the least bit interested in understanding, much less learning more about why men respond to adversity the way they do. Instead, you choose that all fault lies with the women.
The facts are irrefutable. Men do not respond the same way as women do when they lose their jobs and many men deal with the experience by abusing their spouse, rather than dealing with it in a more mentally positive way. This mindset might explain when men decide to commit suicide for whatever reason, they feel compelled to kill members of their family or kill innocent bystanders at the same time. This also tells me that men deal with difficulities by lashing out in anger, rather than accepting adversity as just a part of the life experience, which happens to everyone, not just to them. Therein lies the problem.
http://www.harpyness.com/2009/.....y-falters/
Jim,
Thank you for providing the website where it shows that it has been scientifically proven that women abuse men slightly more than men abuse women. Being a PhD student I can appreciate someone like yourself who will actually investigate an issue before forming a meaningless opinion like all others on here. DID ANYONE ON HERE TAKE THE TIME TO LOOK AT THE WEBSITE JIM PROVIDED BEFORE OFFERING YOUR USELESS OPINIONS? If you did not here it is again, and by the way, gather facts before opining on issues you know nothing about.
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
Mike
Dear Jim.
Boo Freaking Hoo.
Dude, not giving you a blow job even though you took pains to shower before the date — and even used soap — doesn’t count as abuse.
Here’s what Harry Reid had to say, exactly:
“I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse.
It has gotten out of hand. Why? Men don’t have jobs. Women don’t have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive… most of the time.
Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive. Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed. It’s the way it is all over the country.”
Video is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9wzn6j3Ep4
Contrary to Reid’s statement, stats from the CDC indicate that young females initiate violence against their partners more often than do young males. Here are some key facts.
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org.....42/15/31-a
Here’s a link to a bibliography of over 200 more studies indicating that females are at least as likely as males to physically attack their partners.
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
Let’s be aware that when Harry Reid was home meeting with some people “dealing with domestic abuse”, he was dealing with feminist idealogues who run shelters and benefit from promoting an anti-male agenda, and who refuse to recognize the role of women as domestic abusers.
It’s time for the media to wake up and stop letting these propagandists set the cultural agenda.
Let’s also be aware that 80% of the jobs lost in this recession have been lost by men, yet half of the stimulus money spent on jobs has been spent on jobs for women.
Let’s look at education. Check out this stunning chart
http://fathersandhusbands.org/.....ratCr6.gif
chart source data: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/di.....05_246.asp
and tell that the advancement of women hasn’t been promoted to the detriment of men. And then tell me that women and men can’t advance rapidly TOGETHER. The AAUW says the current state of post-secondary education isn’t a problem, because it’s not a zero sum game and because men are making gains in post-secondary education. They weren’t saying this in 1959, the last time there was as large a gender imbalance in education.
Let’s look at boys. This will knock your socks off.
http://fathersandhusbands.org/boy_crisis.htm
Let’s look at wealth. The personal wealth possessed by women in the US significantly exceeds that possessed by men.
Let’s look at health. The federal government has seven (yes seven) offices on women’s health. You know how many offices on men’s health there are in the federal government? You guessed it. Zero.
Let’s look at child abuse. According to the US Department of Justice, women are much more likely than men to abuse their children. They’re also almost twice as likely to kill their children, and they kill their son’s much more often than they kill their daughters. Most often this occurs when they’re toddlers.
Let’s look at domestic abuse in lesbian relationships. It’s at least as common as abuse in heterosexual relationships, and the lesbian community has acknowledged it.
Feminism is a bankrupt ideology. It has been for a decade. You don’t need to boo hoo me. I’m part of the large and exponentially growing movement that’s dismantling your sexist, unconstitutional and shameful agenda.
Now for step one in your recovery. You know when they taught you that perception is reality, and that the end justifies the means when it comes to the advancement of women? They were wrong. And that’s why your ideology is built of sand.
uhhh, I think the article was about Harry Reid (a male) supporting women with regard to spousal abusive in order to gain our support when he never paid attention to the issue before. Jim and Mike, Harry Reid probably follows your line of thinking but suddenly realized that he needs to start thinking of the other half of his constintuency (and I don’t mean Republicans). Domestic violence needs to be dealt with regardless of who is doing the abusing. You just don’t hear a lot of men addressing the issue. Maybe we need some women in Congress to stand up for abused men as well, because there are men out there that refuse to hit back.
Yikes! I don’t know how many offices of women’s health this country really has but I do know this, males are the minority in this country and in the world. Even so men’s health issues are considered the “normal” health issues and women’s health needs are considered “extra and expensive optional” health issues. It is still standard practice in medical research which our tax money pays for to exclude women from studies because their results might skew the results and then to apply whatever the male only research finds to women because women are obviously the same as men. Something is off in that rationale. Anyway we all know the way to toss off women’s health is to establish a do-nothing commission like Obamas commission on women and girls which has accomplished nothing, doesn’t have meetings and doesn’t have goals.
Regarding violence. Women are not as likely as men to resort to violence. Just as a simple example look at animal farming techniques that are used around the entire world. If a male animal is not selected for breeding it is castrated because that makes the animal more docile, less belligerent, less violent and less of a pain in the ass for the farmer to deal with. Do you think poor, male farmers in every culture are running around castrating their animals for no reason? Deviant violent behavior isn’t typical behavior in men but almost all violent domestic abusers are male. You wishful jibber-jabber isn’t going to change that.
Where are you guys from anyway, Kevin, Mike, Jim? Republican? Democrat?
Regarding claims by the men commenting here that “it has been scientifically proven that women abuse men slightly more than men abuse women”, the way this is done is by ignoring the difference between shoving someone (often in self-defense) and breaking someone’s jaw. Men are much more violent than women, and the more extreme and heinous the violence, the likelihood of its being perpetrated by a male increases sharply.
So, if I interpret the data correctly, there is a relation between couples with high levels of subjective financial strain and violence among couples. And from that point on, politicians follow their own agenda and fill in the blanks of the supposed causes and the supposed villains. Politicians have a rather interesting way to suppose causations when all they have are correlations. Luckily for us mere mortals we also have other general data to use in our assessments of the situation. Symmetrical partner violence is the most common kind of violence, when and if there is violence in relations. Next comes asymmetrical partner violence, where women beat men (no pun intended) slightly when it comes to the question of initiating the violence. Also, we might assume that the burden to bring home the beacon, or in this case the lack thereof, is in most cases put on the men’s head. We might assume that a lot of women are placing this burden on the head of the men, who just has been laid off. Being laid off probably won’t be met with an abundance of joy by most men, but some politicians conveniently seem to forget this little annoyance. It’s therefore highly unlikely that putting the blame solely on men, or may be we should use the term character assassination of men in general, will decrease violence among the targeted couples. On the contrary, we might assume that the women will get the idea that they have even more moral rights to punish the villains that had the nerve to become unemployed. And that will be a factor that leads to increase in violence. Nice work, Harry Reid
This is the first real infestation of woman-hating attacks in the comments section here that I’m aware of, and I wonder if there should be some kind of moderation/policy clarification.
The woman hating attacks are the the core reason why domestic violence has not been addressed in any real sense, much less eradicated…far too many men are too self-absorbed and think everything is about them, even when the issue is predominantely viewed as a “woman’s issue”. It amazes me that any man would even entertain the idea that they are abused by women on the same level and frequency as women are abused by men. The studies, reports and facts are overwhelming that men take advantage of their physical strenth over women and use it to “put women in their place”. This kind of reaction only shows that no matter what the facts are, it’s always about them.
The majority of men are just not interested in learning about the female psyche and how and why women act and feel the way they do. However, they certainly expect women to take steps to understand them. It’s impossible for women not to, because men demand it of them!
When men can attend a “chick flick” without complaining and acting like it’s a big pain in the butt for them to do so, as much as women are expected to go to those “prick flicks” that men expect them to go to, then I’ll feel like there’s a chance that men will finally come to the realization that women are not the enemy and are every bit their equal – just in a different way.
LOL I am sorry but the men commenting on this blog about women abusing men more then men abusing women are to me the same as a white person telling a black person that whites suffered from more discrimination then blacks. Dudes I don’t know where you found your science but its not true. Keep telling you that.
To the person who wanted to know Democrat or Republican I smell the stench of a sexist Obot. They work in teams of three or four. I am not sure if they are still Obama supporters. The Pigs backed Obama because he has a penis. Now they are just traveling the internet harrassing women.
Harry Reid somehow I just don’t believe you care.
Anyone want to bet that Jim, Mike and Kevin all have active restraining orders against them?
They can’t beat their female partners any more so instead they come here to troll.
Screw you, boiz!
Kathleen, they honestly think of our mere existence and ability to turn them down as abuse. BEating the living shit out of a woman is EXACTLY AS BAD in their tiny little minds as a woman refusing to go down on them. Honest to God, this is how they think. They are psychotic.
Janis,
Sadly, you’re more than likely right about the male opinion of women. While I know there are good men out there who truly love and respect women, the majority of men simply do not respect women and really do think of us as some kind of servant to their every need or whim.
I guess the fact that they feel no absolutely no shame or the least bit of remorse for the brutality women endure everyday from men all over the world explains a lot about why the world is self-destructing.
I’ve had a ton of women go all intellectual on me over this, but I really do think that it’s all a matter of hating fertility and not trusting it. There is a terror of fertility in them — that it is out to destroy them and must be controlled at all costs or else it will swallow them whole. It informs how they behave toward women, and it informs how they behave toward the world at large.
Yeah yeah yeah, women throw candy wrappers out of moving vehicles, too — boo effin hoo. I’m sorry, but this is how they think. Fertility is not to be trusted and must be controlled by brute force whenever possible — that’s how they think. They came out of a vagina and they are going to strangle every one they see to death lest it devour them. Sick in the head.
Janis,
I agree that the age-old hatred of women is not so much an intellectual matter as it is something deeply emotional in the men that manifests itself into fear of women and perhaps, of their unique ability to bring life into this world.
I think Sjourner Truth hit the nail on the head, when at a women’s conference, a minister was talking about women can’t have as much rights as men and she took to the stage and said:
“That little man in black there! He says women can’t have as much rights as men. ‘Cause Christ wasn’t a woman.” She stood with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. “Where did your Christ come from?”
“Where did your Christ come from?”, she thundered again. “From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!”
I think men resent a woman’s ability to bring life into the world, and is why they react with hatred and anger towards women in general– not out of a feeling of superiority — but out of a feeling inferiority. I think this is the core of their hatred for women.
The question that men cannot seem to answer (nor do I think they ever want to) is, if they really believe that they are superior to women, why do feel it necessary to impose a double standard on them? Why not compete on a level field and let the best person get the job, position, title, PRESIDENCY?
Janis… Kathleen Wynne… your comments remind me of the movie “Aliens”
I have noticed a really big difference in the way men and women view their sexual organs. Men view their sexual organs with a certain amount of pride, of possessiveness. Women, however, seem ashamed of their organs. This is gonna be kinda graphic…
If a man is castrated, he feels violated – his sense of self destroyed. It is just the opposite with women. If a woman loses her uterus, she feels a sense of freedom and can embrace her individuality.
Now, I am NOT saying all women should stay at home and have babies. Birth control exists for a reason for both men and women, and we should all feel free to use it. However, I do believe if we are to become further sexually empowered, we should feel proud of our bodies and what they are capable of doing. We should feel proud of our bodies’ capability to carry life. Maybe once women start viewing their bodies again in that fashion, we can step back from the objectification and discover what sexual empowerment truly means.
Karen,
I’m not quite sure what you meant by my comments reminding you of the movie “Aliens”, but you do make good points about the differences in the way women and men view their sexual organs.
However, I believe you left out one important factor in the equation that is the cause for those differences — a patriarchial-controlled society. Because of this fact, men are predestined at birth to have pride in their sexual organ because it’s been made into a symbol of their “power” (note the shape of many monuments being of a phallic nature) and the alpha male symbol in the use of rape in war and peace as another, more brutal, expression of their power over women. Women, on the other hand, are predestined at birth to virtually hide their sexuality because if they showed the same pride as men do, they would be labeled everything negative in today’s put down of women — whores, c__ts, bitches, making them totally u worthy of respect in this man’s world.
I grew up with brothers and I can assure you that my father “expected” my brothers to experiment with their growing sexual awareness, but expected me to deny mine, because that’s what “good girls” are supposed to do!
That attitude will only change when women have equity with men in politics, business, sports, arts, sciences, etc. Our voices have been silenced by the patriarchy and because of this, we are not respected by the men nor by ourselves. Quite a catch-22 kind of position the men have put women in — “damned if they do, damned if they don’t”. A man’s strategy of divide and conquer that women continue to fall prey to brought on by their own lack of respect for themselves.
This mindset will only change when women learn to respect each other with the same kind of respect as men have for each other, instead of siding with the men and holding each other to the same impossible standards as they hold us. If we can do this, men will learn to respect us and that’s when we will have the freedom to have pride in our sexuality and finally realize our full potential as human beings.
BTW, maybe comedianne, satirist, Sarah Haskins, can help women realize the dangers of allowing the patriarchy, through marketing, to define what being a woman is (to them) and wake women up to the fact that we must define ourselves:
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/a.....h-haskins/
I don’t see them taking pride in them. I think the posturing is overcompensation. They seem to think their genitals are horrifying — why else would they consider a woman to be garbage the minute she’s had one stuck in her?
Their whole attitude toward life is, without exception, “if I get my dick in you, you lose.” That’s the kernel of their whole approach to life, period. And no, your Nigel isn’t any different. No person who actually had high esteem for their genitals would ever think that.
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