August 19, 2004

There is an August 4, 2004 Non Sequitur cartoon that depicts two archeologists discovering an ancient wall painting in a cave that makes the point that “men equal bad and women equal good.” This is the mindset of fundamental feminism and many domestic violence advocates. Fundamental feminists are people, not necessarily women, who believe women’s rights are more important that equal or civil rights.

A recent Associated Press story that appears in the August 19, 2004 issue of the Boston Globe: One woman is charged with kidnapping and three counts of aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm and the other with child abuse causing no great harm and child neglect. Authorities believe the child, missing for more than two years, is dead.

Good and Bad

In the social sciences it is generally agreed that males are more aggressive and assertive in their social interactions than females are. However, it is just important that we understand that not all little boys grow up to be violent boyfriends and husbands, and that all little girls grow up to be docile wives and mothers who maintain family harmony at all costs. Lately we read a lot about “alpha males” while little is written concerning their counterpart “queen bees” Football cheerleaders most often date football players.

This, power and influence in males or physical beauty in females is something that the majority of males and females desire and aspire to. Athletic and/or materially successful males date or marry the most attractive and socially successful females. It is the desire of most attractive and socially successful females to attract the athletic and/or materially successful males. This is a historic and biological goal of both males and females.

Many females can be just as tough and demanding [I am woman, I am strong!] as males in their physical expressions of aggression. Research documents and most feminists agree that verbal abuse often can hurt just as much as physical assault. Assertive and aggressive behavior by boy’s – shoving, verbal put-downs, physical fights – tend to be noticed and disciplined by adults. Assertive and aggressive girls’ behavior – exclusion, backbiting, bitchiness – is often unseen or ignored by adults.

Most, if not all, domestic violence programs and websites ignore the fact that criminal justice data documents there are many females who can be just as violent as males. There is little doubt that some boys can and do mistreat girls. However, all data documents that most violence by boys [as with men] is directed at other males. Most women recognize that most often the abuse they suffered growing up, both verbally and physically was at the hands of other girls.

National Institute of Justice criminal justice data documents that among offenders under 18 girls account for almost 1 out of every 4 offenders of aggravated assaults and approximately 30% of other assaults.

Simply stated this behavior or socialization process is not a matter of dominance of males over females. It is what each did best together while trying to survive was still the number one name of the game. This Darwinist styled behavior of the last forty thousand years still can play an equal hand concerning how many if not most males and females continue to interact.

When They Are Bigger and Stronger and Control the Resources

Research concerning domestic violence must examine more closely how human behavior is affected from a Darwinian (the powerful over the weak) perspective and Maslow’s hierarchy of individual needs. History documents that the strong, regardless of gender, most often exhibit behavior that is in their best interest and intended to perpetuate their dominance. This of course includes both people and nations.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau report, ChildMaltreatment 1996: Reports From the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect DataSystem, documents that 17,590 children were physically abused by men and 21,757 children were physically abused by women. Two-thirds of mothers with children six years of age or under hit them three or more times each week. Mothers commit the abuse of their children 58 percent of the time, fathers 16 percent, and both parents 13 percent.

In a study from the National Institute of Justice, Full Report on Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, it reports that 51.9 percent of women and 66.4 percent of men surveyed said they were physically assaulted as a child by an adult caretaker and/or as an adult by any type of attacker. The Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Murder in Families, documents that “in murders of their offspring, women predominated, accounting for 55 percent of killers.”

The most extensive elder abuse report to date, The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, reports that males were responsible for 53 percent of the abuse and females 47 percent. Children, adolescents, people with special needs, and the elderly often do not have the physical or economic power to defend themselves against physical assaults and emotional neglect. Indisputable data demonstrate this type of behavior is exhibited, by the strong against the weak, regardless of gender.

The Fundamental Mistake in Fundamental Feminist Reasoning

The excuse most often offered by fundamental feminists and many domestic violence advocates for child abuse by women is that “women raise most children and interact with them more than men” is illusionary, illogical and ignorant at best. Is there anyone on this planet that thinks fundamental feminists will excuse the male abuse of women because, “they date women and interact with them in marriage?

Richard L. Davis