Comments on: Hitting home?

By: Alan Ji

Alan Ji — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:48:59 +0000

IsraeliNurse

I wrote: ” Free your mind from that flat line and compare the actual survey results to a random distribution (or a bell curve).

Then you might find that those apparently alarming one in five, one in seven and one in ten figures are what you might expect from a minority of people answering a question they haven’t thought about and aren’t very interested in.”

You wrote: “I find it quite incredible that any woman could think that there is any circumstance whatsoever which would ‘justify’ violence against her. If these statistics are true, they are very worrying indeed and further highlight the backward slide of women’s consciousness.”

I understand your point. I’m not sure whether you understand mine?

By: Sea Kittenz

Sea Kittenz — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:16:33 +0000

But how is it Marxist in any way to wonder if paying more for your mortgage might lead to domestic violence?

People are paying less for their mortgage. Interest rates have gone down, not up. In your usual eagerness to bash the middle classes, you appear to be overlooking some rather elementary facts, Graham. Marxists often share the same failing.

By: Israelinurse

Israelinurse — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:01:36 +0000

Cipriano -I suppose the answer is education, and by that I mean education for life; not just passing exams and meeting gov’t targets.
It’s about parents teaching children to have self esteem, which I don’t think can be easily done if they don’t have it themselves, although I do believe that moulds of family behaviour can be broken if people really want to.
Modern western society teaches us (through tv., advertising, magazines etc.) that if we don’t conform to consumer culture by having the ‘must have’ items we are worth less than the next guy. We are encouraged to be constantly dissatisfied with our lives, our bodies, our looks -the lot. This is most apparant in adverts aimed at women -if you examine them you see that the overall message is that we’re too fat/the wrong shape/too hairy/smelly/too old/too wrinkled/wrong colour of hair etc. Obviously the aim is to get us to spend money, but there’s a side effect of telling us repeatedly that we’re not ok, which must have an accumulative effect on self esteem. I find the current trend (something I hadn’t seen before I came to the UK) of pre-pubescent girls wearing make-up, high heels and frankly tarty clothes very disturbing indeed. It teaches them from an early age to define themselves according to how overtly sexually appealing they are to others before they have even established for themselves who they actually are.
Hardly surprising then that young girls today aspire more to be a footballer’s wife (again, defining themselves through someone else) than a scientist or a doctor.
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!

By: Israelinurse

Israelinurse — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:09:01 +0000

By: Alan Ji

Alan Ji — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:09:58 +0000

Johan W @ 9 March 2009, 11:33 pm

“I am not entirely surprised by this survey, chav culture, the thoughtless deconstruction of the gentleman as a cultural ideal, the equally entirely ideological and idiotic attempt to rebirth those taboos that the Gentleman was supposed to live by in an almost entirely emasculated form virtually assured that a reborn primitive machismo – often coming from Chav and Gang culture combined with raunch culture to undermine the attitude to domestic violence.”

You don’t half write some rubbish, and just after I was warming to your opinion about statistics.

Twice I have visited Bath. The first time I told a colleague (Guyanese) that I wondered where all this wealth had come form and thought she’d be very annoyed by coy references to “investments in the West Indies”.

The second time was an anniverary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic Slave trade. In one large house museum it was mentioned that the wealthy owner’s views on slavery were not documented. Was was documented was his large collection of Wedgewood, not including any of the abolitionist items.

Who needs models of good behaviour from the rich of that period?

By: Cipriano

Cipriano — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:49:30 +0000

Israelinurse – I’m sure you’re right about low self-esteem. But what can one do about it, when so many people choose to lead lives in which there is nothing estimable whatsoever?

By: socialrepublican

socialrepublican — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:17:56 +0000

‘The usual baying mob of delusional ‘progressives’ in all its glory. The unspeakable in pursuit of brainless consensus. Anyone who dares to voice an opinion not approved by the central committee gets vilified.’

NO, you really are a tender soul aren’t you. The CC apologises for hurting your feelings and the horrendous witchhunt thereafter

toughen the fuck up.

And no, no shovels or trowels. God help him should he go on DSTPFW

By: Israelinurse

Israelinurse — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:42:01 +0000

In my line of work, especially the A&E part, one sees the results of violence in all its permutations. Men against women (and v.v.), violence between gay partners of both sexes, parents against children, children against parents. If there is a common denominator in the case of repeated violence, I would say that it is low self esteem.
I find it quite incredible that any woman could think that there is any circumstance whatsoever which would ‘justify’ violence against her. If these statistics are true, they are very worrying indeed and further highlight the backward slide of women’s consciousness.

By: Nick (ex South Africa)

Nick (ex South Africa) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:34:04 +0000

Booze is a largely a truth drug; people who are violent arseholes who pick fights, physical or verbal when pissed, are not acting out of character; they are merely being themselves.

By: Johan W

Johan W — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:33:08 +0000

As has been pointed out the survey finds that women in what are termed shockingly high numbers believe that violence towards them would be justified in some circumstances (other questions then detail some of those circumstances) – which is not a claim that domestic violence is on the increase or even that it is already at very high levels.

As an aside it’s worth noting that WRT to other attitudes 20% may be regarded as an encouragingly small percentage by some and a distressingly high one by others – eg if 20% of British Muslims were to favour the imposition of strict Sharia Law in Britain it might be and encouragingly and releivedly small number to some and alarmingly large number to others.

I am not entirely surprised by this survey, chav culture, the thoughtless deconstruction of the gentleman as a cultural ideal, the equally entirely ideological and idiotic attempt to rebirth those taboos that the Gentleman was supposed to live by in an almost entirely emasculated form virtually assured that a reborn primitive machismo – often coming from Chav and Gang culture combined with raunch culture to undermine the attitude to domestic violence.

What we can say about actual rates of Domestic Violence and the condition of women is much harder – the problem can be , is probably likely to be – worst where data is least. Where women are nearly totally oppressed there is very little data, and reporting rates are best where Women feel confident in the Sytem’s response – and by it’s nature it is a problem that is exceedingly hard to measure even via surveys.