violence against women

Another thing I've been reading a LOT about lately is violence against women. It's one of those topics that is briefly discussed in several of the core social work courses, but doesn't have a class dedicated to the topic. Once class in Policy was on this topic, as was one class in Feminism (actually, that was a Poli Sci class) and the Sociology of Families, as well as being mentioned in the Aboriginal class, and probably in 110 and 210. It was also one of the advocacy cases I read in my Advocacy Writing elective, and was discussed in my crisis line training. Just yesterday, at my crisis line shift, I was asked to read some of a 75 page document from MCFD on "Best Practice Approaches: Child Protection and Violence Against Women." It is also a topic that came up in both of the two BCASW conferences I have attended, most notably by Lee Lakeman of Vancouver Rape Relief Society, a Downtown Eastside women's shelter.

The general consensus is that domestic violence is NOT about anger management, NOT about mental illness (although being a victim of it is VERY likely to cause mental illness), it is about power and control. As well, it is the general consensus that domestic violence is overwhelmingly gendered, hence the term "violence against women" replacing the non-gendered term "domestic violence".

However, this kind of violence is compounded by other forms of social marginalization. So, women who experience a lack of power beyond their gender identity experience much more violence, and that violence is much more severe. For example, Aboriginal women experience intimate partner violence at a rate of 20%, whereas mainstream stats place it at about 7%. This means Aboriginal women are 3 times more likely to experience intimate partner violence. As well, immigrant women, racialized women and women with disabilities experience more violence than the general population of women.

One interesting fact, however, is that intimate partner violence occurs in lesbian relationships, as well, and it is not mutual violence or aggression. This violence is also characterized by the need to exert power and control.

Thus, I would argue that violence against women is NOT a gender issue. Rather, I contend that it is an issue of power and oppression, and that by focusing specifically on women as victims and men as perpetrators, we end up "othering" men. This is NOT to say that I think we should NOT talk about violence against women. Rather, it is to say that we need to use a post-modern approach, recognize that this ISN'T a war between the genders, and that these men, although apparently not mentally ill, are in some way damaged by our culture, by our culture's need to oppress and marginalize groups of people.

My Aboriginal Social Work prof (Gwen Point, who is of the Stó:lō Nation, and whose husband is the Lieutenant Gov of BC ) seemed to empathize with First Nations men; she asked us to imagine what it must feel like to be a man, socially constructed as the provider, and then have your ability to provide for your family and your community stripped from you.

I think that we need to stop dehumanizing men who commit violence against women, and acknowledge that they need help. This is a pervasive issue, beyond individual pathology; it is an issue built into the very structure of our social systems.

The unfortunate thing, however, in this neo-liberal political climate,  is that there are no voluntary services for men who commit intimate partner violence. There ARE programs for these men, but they are either through Corrections or through MCFD. Thus, these men have to either have been charged/convicted of committing such violence (in which case, it's been going on for a LONG time, and the woman is probably extremely damaged from the constant terrorization), or the violence has to be a part of a child protection investigation. In my opinion, this is a day late and a dollar short.