Misogyny: A Public Health Crisis

[ismnotwasm]

This is a good summary;

http://www.now.org/news/note/082207.html
Misogyny: A Public Health Crisis

Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by NOW President Kim Gandy

August 20, 2007

"A 20-year-old woman reported being raped by the bouncer outside a bar in Cincinnati. A disabled woman in Everett, Wash., says she was raped in her home by a man she knew, while her young children slept nearby. In Washington, D.C., police say a woman was forced to withdraw money for the assailant after he raped her. A man was arrested in Cheyenne, Wyo., for raping and murdering a woman. Chicago police say a 25-year-old woman was stabbed and strangled in a "domestic dispute."

And that was just yesterday.

Rarely a day goes by without multiple headlines announcing that a woman or young girl is missing, or has been sexually assaulted, raped or murdered, or some combination thereof. It is no secret that violence against women and girls pervades this country and the world, and yet for some reason, neither the statistics nor the headlines shock society into collective, sustained action. The fact that one in six women in the U.S. is the victim of sexual assault raises few eyebrows.

Certain instances of sexual assault, rape and other violent acts against women get a lot of media coverage, but the reports are rarely framed as evidence of a serious public health crisis and a society still struggling with misogyny. More often, incidents make news because of the alleged perpetrator's celebrity status or the salaciousness of the crime, a trend that has fostered a frightening trivialization of violence against women. Rape has become the stuff of gossip — and even humor."

[ThomCat]

1. I wish

I really, truly wish we could successfully frame the debate this way. I'd love to see misogyny discussed as a public health crisis.

But the majority of the people here would immediately shit on that thread and insist that sexism is a rare, minor influence on society. Reasonable people, like everyone here, couldn't possibly be sexist. And feminists are just exagerating everything anyway.

The discussion would immediately turn into one about whether feminists are the public crisis.

Yes, I think misogyny is a public health crisis. I think it's a persistant rot that feeds on all of us.