Times-Advocate, 1982-04-07, Page 84
•
Page 8
Times -Advocate, April 7, 1952
.. .
Wif. battoring is reaching epidemic proportlons conf•ri sspoaK•rs II
Wife battering is a serious,
epidemic problem that
police, courts and other
members of society must
denounce and try to resolve.
It is estimated that 500,000
women in Canada - or 1 in 10 -
are battered by their
husbands or live in lovers
each year. Statistics Canada
says that almost 20 percent
of murders involve husbands
killing their wives.
Theseare some of the
startling facts that several
women from the Huron
County group Women Today
faced at the conference
nee e anee e a m
"Wife Battering:
and Routes to Solutions."
They were among 900 police,
social workers and con-
cerned individuals who met
at the University of Western
Ontario on Friday to
examine why men beat
women and what can be done
to stop it.
Women who have sought
refuge for themselves and
their children at one of the 11
interval houses in Ontario
often are seeking help for
their husbands as well. It is
hard to convince the husband
that he has a problem and
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difficult to find professionals
skilled at dealing with this
kind of violence.
Steve Everett, organiser of
Stop Abuse by Men, a self-
help program in the Chicago
area and himself a former
batterer explained that most
men deny that they batter.
He couldn't imagine himself
fitting into the stereotype he
had of an abuser: an
unemployed, uneducated
alcoholic man.
When he realized that It
was the stereotype that was
wrong he was able to admit
that he was an abuser. Once
he accepted that he needed
help he had difficulty finding
it. It was by talking to other
men who were violent and
were willing to discuss their
feeling and emotions that he
was able to change. "An
important part of changing
and ending my battering in
my family was exploring,
learning and naming my
feelings during before and
after battering."
Everett went on to em-
phasize that wife battering is
only one symptom of many
ways men are violent to
women including rape, in-
cest, sexual harrassment,
verbal assault and por-
nography.
London lawyer and
feminist Connie Backhouse
labeled the same list as a
spectrumof violence against
women. She stated that it is
the same violence being
manifested in a number of
ways. As the women's
movement identifies these
various forms of violence the
ame sets of myths and the
ame sets of data are
merging.
Backhouse says there are
myths that wife battering is
of a widespread problem;
hat only small, fragile,
nemployed, immigrant,
poor women are beaten; that
en who beat their wives
re alcoholic and unem-
loyed; that somehow the
ife is to blame and that
beatings are of a minor
ature.
However, she said, bat -
ring is in epidemic
roportions and includes
ctims and abusers of all
ocial classes, ages and
ligions. She dismissed the
ea that women are to
ame., What that really
eans isthat people think
omen like to be beaten, that
y expreience some kind of
easure akin_ to sexual
easure from it. This is
solutely, totally absurd."
These beatings are not
nor. Over one third of the
ses require medical
atment. The beatings can
calate to murder.
Inspector John Robinson
the London police force
d that it is wrong to label
ily related assault as
mestic". This leads to
s
s
e
n
u
m
a
p
w
n
to
p
vi
s
re
id
bl
m
the
pl
p1
ab
mi
ca
tre
es
of
sai
fam
"do
the attitude that it is dif-
ferent from other assault
and is less serious. He also
mentioned that more police
are injured or killed during
these family disputes than in
any other police work.
That there is a double
standard for assault was also
the concern of Judge
Maurice Geneat of London
Family court. He said "an
assault against a wife should
not be treated differently
than an assault between two
men on Dundas Street." He
continued on to say that we
should act more responsibly
about this violence since "an
assault against any one
woman is an assault against
all women."
Donnie Patterson, a
representative ,of the
women's program con-
sultant in British Columbia
and a victim, stressed that
when women reach out for
help the community must be
there with help in the form of
shelters, money, daycare
and counselling. But
moreover we need transitlon
houses for men because
"wife battering is not a
women's issue, it is a men's
issue." We must stop
blaming women for their
victimization.
There were many solutions
offered and demanded by
those at the conference.
Connie Backhouse
suggested a 115 tax be levied
on aU marriage licenses
raisingbe used dollars million financehelters
for abused women.
Steven Everett stressed
the need for community
education of the realities and
scope of the problem. He
M
hoped that boys and men
could be encouraged to be
open about their feelings and
emotions in non-violent
ways.
Donnie Patterson feels
that violence is so engrained
in our society that we really
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need a revolution in our
attitudes toward it.
"Wouldn't it be nice If all the
women and children had the
services they need and the
military had to put on a bake
sale to get a bomb?"
The next meeting of
Women Today will be held
April 27 at Central Huron
Secondary School, Clinton,
Room 123 at 7:30 p.m.
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