Tuesday, September 26, 2000
After I pointed out what I think is feminist hypocrisy over the Nike ads, there was some discussion on the site along the lines of, “get real, you don’t think violence is a real problem for men, do you?” Actually, yes.
Men are the overwhelming victims of violent crime in every society of which I am aware (if somebody knows of a society in which women are more likely to be victims of violent crime, please let me know so I can make a correction). Many radical feminists seem to think that this is besides the point because most of the violence against men is committed by other men — conflating the perpetrator and victim in a classic blame the victim argument.
In fact violent acts, regardless of whether they are perpetrated by men or women, are usually committed by a small minority of individuals who have a history of prior criminal offenses and little regard for their fellow human beings. The person who commits violent acts out of the blue certainly exist, but is definitely in the minority.
The problem I and other critics of contemporary feminism have is that some feminists only object to violence against women and not men. Cathy Young beautifully illustrated this in a recent column, Anti-male bias infects too many campuses, in which she described the bizarre aftermath of a murder/suicide at the University of Michigan,
A more recent incident at U[University of]-M[ichigan] suggests that the university deserves its place on the top 10 anti-male colleges list. Last year, a female student fatally stabbed her boyfriend (who had never been accused of violence and had been trying to break up with her) and then shot herself. The Women’s Studies Department held a memorial service — for the killer.
Is that what feminists fought for so hard for so long? To memorialize and honor murderers, provided they are women? In fact I suspect that almost all people, male or female, find the actions of Michigan’s Women’s Studies Department to be revolting, which only illustrates just how far radical/academic feminism has strayed from the admirable goal of sexual equality.