The term fundamental feminism is used to distinguish that movement from progressive feminism. Progressive feminists favor the Equal Rights Amendment http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/era.htm ; equal pay for equal work, equal educational opportunities, equity in behavior between the genders, etc.
In contrast to progressive feminists, fundamental feminists do not seek gender equity. Their goal is gender superiority and authority. There is no question that women and men now live in a more gender equitable world than the one this author was born into. As a father of three daughters and two sons this author expects and demands equity of behavior and equal opportunity for all five of his children. Most of the credit for this contemporary view of gender equity must be given to progressive feminism.
Fundamental feminists loathe whoever they do not have the power to control. At a conference in 1979 they screamed and howled at Murray Straus, a researcher and leading authority concerning domestic violence http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ . Straus, until that moment, was their hero because of his innovative studies concerning domestic violence.
They shrieked so loudly that Straus was forced to end his presentation. They refused to listen simply because Straus dared suggest something no reasonable and prudent person will deny. All that Straus proffered was that men could be victimized and women can be as violent as men in relationships.
In that instant Straus went from hero to zero. In that moment the future of fundamental feminism concerning civility and freedom of speech, presented itself. The gauntlet laid down at that conference by fundamental feminism is, if you are not one hundred percent for them, you must be one hundred percent against them. They leave no middle ground.
The Fundamental Feminism Lens
Fundamental feminists often self righteously believe that they are morally and intellectually superior and all that is wrong in the world is the fault of men. Marilyn French is one of the country’s leading feminist philosophers and theorists. She writes on page 19 of her book, The War Against Women, “Men’s need to dominate women may be based in their own sense of marginality or emptiness.” She believes men are only marginally significant to women and that men are simply empty creatures. The war against women by men, that French believes is very real, would soon be altered by fundamental feminists to become violence against women.
Fundamental feminists and many domestic violence advocates are the only people, professional or otherwise, who continue to claim, despite reams of data, research and many reports from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service to the contrary, http://virlib.ncjrs.org/vict.asp?category=50&subcategory=105 that between 95% to 98% of “domestic violence” victims are women. This “fact” is not a “fact” and yet it is repeated over and over again by the vast majority of domestic violence agencies.
Harvey Wallace in his book Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives asks:
“How does on accurately study or research a phenomenon if a definition cannot be agreed on because the definition of any act both sets limits and focuses research within certain boundaries?” When “violence” morphs into or is replaced with “insults, being talked down to, or somehow mistreated,” how indeed?
Fundamental feminists believe that women are the victims of domestic violence because the patriarchy has caused men in general to be sexist misogynists. They believe men use violence against women to oppress and subjugate them.
On page 14 of her feminist classic, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Susan Brownmiller writes of rape, “It is nothing more than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of war.” The emphasis on all is by Brownmiller, not this author. It appears that both French and Brownmiller, are two of the founders of fundamental feminist thought. If one reads their books they will understand that French and Brownmiller believe they are right and they are proud of it. And it appears they have no intention of letting facts get in the way of their philosophy.
The majority of domestic violence advocates have accepted and adopted this fundamental feminist ideological belief. They believe that domestic violence “is” violence against women and that the violence is singularly or primarily caused by patriarchal sexism and the power and control men want to exhibit over women. What goes unreported by both the print and electronic media is the fact that there are few, if any, professionals, other than fundamental feminists and many domestic violence advocates http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/171683.pdf that accept this fundamental feminist ideological premise as the reason for domestic violence.
Once an individual or agency believes that ideology, that patriarchy is the cause of domestic violence, and/or that patriarchy is the single or a primary cause of domestic violence, that philosophic belief demands that the individual or agency must also believe women are the only victims. Hence men must always be the offenders. To believe that domestic violence is only or primarily caused by sexism and the power and control men want to exhibit over women, demands an individual or agency must believe that women are not and can not be domestic violence offenders. Once an individual or agency accepts either belief the other must necessarily precede or follow http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/crimdom.pdf.
Holding these myopic fundamental feminist ideologies causes many domestic violence advocates, who honestly attempt to view domestic violence though an unbiased lens, to have their preconceived perception of what is supposed to be reality, “men are offenders and women their victims,” not to be able to accept the reality of a male victim. Simply stated, their assumption of what is supposed to be real, becomes their reality.
This myopic, the-patriarchy-makes-them-do-it theory, is clearly not accepted as the only or primary theory by the majority of physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, family counselors, educators, social workers, attorneys, judges, or those in the criminal justice system who are not fundamental feminists. Why then does this myopic philosophy remain the engine that drives domestic violence public policy?
The vast majority of domestic violence agencies continue to claim that their intervention and programs are not sexist. They profess their interventions and programs are gender neutral. However, few if any, deny that their individual or agencies central and core belief is that domestic violence is caused by patriarchy, sexism and the desire of men to subjugate and dominate women. Accepting this as the truth then causes the advocate not to believe or at least become reluctant to believe the male victim. Thus this fundamental feminist ideology, in reality, renders the fallacious claim of gender neutrality inconsequential. This can include those who honestly attempt to be gender neutral.
Hence holding that fundamental feminist ideological belief makes it almost impossible for any advocate to believe men can be victims and women offenders. What the majority of advocates actually believe, regardless of their claims of neutrality when presented with a male victim, is that somehow – someway, these men must be pretending to be victims and that they actually must be offenders in sheep’s clothing.
Given the mountains of raw data, not statistics, but rather contemporary scientific empirical raw data that acknowledges the fact that females do hit and abuse males the issue of self defense is, only recently, given as a reason for female violence. It is vital to the existence of programs similar Emerge, to remain in business, that women must always be the victim.
Needing another theory to explain who some women abuse, the Fundamentalist feminists and many domestic violence advocates began the claim that the vast majority of women who do use violence in relationships do so only because they act in “self defense.” This theory has not a single scientific study to document it is valid.
Similar to the patriarchy-makes-them-do-it theory it was pulled out of thin air. Searching for a single thread of validity it is claimed that women who do use violence have, prior to their abusive behavior, been abused themselves. They are striking first to prevent future and further abuse. However, as the authors of, Family Abuse: Consequences, Theories and Responses, and in fact almost all college texts document, the line between victimization and perpetrations of abuse is not always as clear as we would like it to be.
This “self-defense- makes-them-do-it” theory now accompanies the patriarchy-makes-them-do-it theory. It remains fundamental to the fundamentalist doctrine that domestic violence must always be the fault of the man.
There is no doubt that fundamental feminists ignore the plight of one gender in favor of another. This is something they claim men have historically been guilty of, and they may be right. Fundamental feminists crave, more than anything else, the political power to control the mores, norms, and legislative laws of contemporary society. This is something they claim men have historically been guilty of and they may be right. Fundamental feminists believe they alone should decide what is right and what is wrong for society. This is something they claim men have historically been guilty of and they may be right. However, this author was taught many years ago by his grandmother that two wrongs (nor three) do not make a right.
Fundamental feminists are amazed that the vast majority of women and men do not agree with their single minded ideology. They believe, without a doubt, they are right and everyone else must be wrong. They seem astounded that others can not believe what they believe. They seem shocked, surprised and chagrined that the vast majority of Americans do not agree with their belief of female oppression. Their beliefs often isolate them from many of their friends and colleagues. To retain their beliefs many must remain in a constant state of denying reality.
Equally distressing is that fundamental feminists can not or do not understand that they have actually abandoned feminism and placed their radical ideological beliefs before the desires, hopes and needs of many victims of domestic violence.
Domestic Violence researchers Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes write on page 61 of the Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf, that “America’s medical community should receive comprehensive training about the medical needs of female [emphasis added] victims of rape and physical assault.”
They estimate about 1.9 million women and 3.2 million men are physically assaulted annually in the United States. Their own data documents that approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States. In an earlier report the Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf they estimate that 4.8 million women and 2.9 million men will suffer from a rape or physical assault by an intimate partner. Ignoring their own data, the authors call for training concerning female victims only. They, similar to many other domestic violence advocates, are simply unable to see or accept that men are victims because of the single minded ideological beliefs they hold.
Ignoring their own findings, perhaps because of their inability to see the reality that their own data documents, in the policy implications of the Final Report study they purposely choose to paint the 835,000, 2.9, or 3.2 million male victims, victims their own data document are victims, invisible. Not once in the policy implications section do they mention that male victims may have needs http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf. What does this say about their beliefs concerning gender equity?
Ironically and inexplicably, fundamental feminists seem incapable of understanding that they now exhibit an extraordinary lack of compassion for male victims, as was once the case for female victims. They exhibit the same lust for power and control that they accuse men of historically exhibiting. They do not seem to understand that they exhibit the very same behavior they claim to loathe.
Richard
L. Davis
The complete article Battered Statistics Batter All
Victims is at http://www.rhiannon3.net/cs/article42.html
