In a sample of 13 African countries between 1999 and 2004, 52% of women surveyed say they think that wife-beating is justified if she neglects the children; around 45% think it’s justified if she goes out without telling the husband or argues with him; 36% if she refuses sex, and 30% if she burns the food.
And this is what the women think.
The above statistics come from Steven D. Levitt over at Freakonomics. In light of my college's Take Back the Night week, I couldn't have come across this statistic at a better time. We ought not to forget that women's rights issues are global issues. It is very important to deal with these issues at home (wherever home may be for those of you reading this), but we cannot forget our fellow men and women around the globe. Women need to stand in solidarity with each other against the abuses of male supremacy. And men too must be part of the movement - men must stand up and tell their brothers that the power they (we) continue to wield and abuse is unjustified, inhuman, and cruel.
Levitt goes on to remark that "We live in a strange world." But there is nothing strange about these facts. American women face abuse and oppression every day and we choose to blind ourselves to it. We look down our noses at the "bizarre" or "strange" or "exotic" customs held in other countries and ignore the fact that similar things are going on in our own neighborhoods - maybe even in our own homes. We cannot just blame these problems on the "strange world" we live in. The world only remains "strange" when we let it.
But what can we do about it? There is a fine line between promoting and defending human rights, and cultural imperialism. How can we educate, inform, and spark interest without simply enforcing "our" way of doing things? We cannot export Western notions of feminism to foreign cultures monolithically, but we can spark movements and debate. We cannot, however, attempt to lead or control these movements. Women in Africa and other postcolonial regions need to find their own power within their own cultural space, but this does not mean that we cannot respectfully support these movements.
Article comments
1 - RedTard
I see you are pursuing a minor in gender studies. Just the type of guilt ridden crap I have come to expect from our liberal indoctrination factories.
Yeah, it sucks for women in other countries, but saying if one person is oppressed we all are is just bogus feel good crap. And please, if your gonna lecture me about how I am part of the evil male sex conspiracy please come up with some specific cases instead of broad platitiudes.
2 - hostile
See comment above.
It's not a question of people like us being wife-beating misogynist pigs, as you of course assume we are, it's a question of how feminism has come to distort our society. Men and women both have positive and negative traits, but feminism sees only positive traits in women and only negative ones in men. When feminists can take remove the president of Harvard, the game has gone terribly, terribly wrong. And before you go slamming Summers, actually read his speech. ACTUALLY READ IT. He says absolutely nothing that any sane person would disagree with, but unless it follows the feminist party line, you're gone. Wake the fuck up.
3 - Bryan McKay
RedTard: You're looking for examples? Try female genital mutilation. Try culturally-acceptable (and even expected) instances of spousal abuse. And if you want to look closer to home, take a look at the statistics on abused and battered women in the United States.
Hostile: Most feminists do not, as you say, "see only positive traits in women and only negative ones in men." Most feminists believe in gender equality and not simply a reversal of gender inequalities. Pointing out problems with a male-dominated institution is part of pointing out areas of inequality in order to change them. I'm certain you wouldn't argue against equality, right?
And I'm not sure where either of you came up with this bullshit that I'm somehow calling out all men for being wife-beating misogynist pigs. Do you beat your wives? Are you a citizen of these societies in Africa which condone wife-beating? If you don't fall into either of these categories, then how exactly am I criticizing you? Just because you aren't guilty of it yourself doesn't mean that you ought not to try and help the situation.
4 - H.S.
Thank you so much Bryan. I agree - abuse of women is commonplace in this culture, as it is in many cultures. There are also still many ideas being sold in this country that lead to the oppression of women - an almost overt hatred of women. I grew up in a fundamentalist household. The girls were all handed books when growing up preparing us for marriage, telling us how we needed to learn to submit to, and obey men as the "head of the household." This is not an uncommon phenomenon in religious households to teach that adult women do not even deserve basic liberty. It's not only other cultures that have degrading ideas about women, it's very prevalent in large segments of our own. And every day we're bombarded with images of violence towards women in pop culture, from music to movies to television.
Just the frustration of it all - I think it's the height of irony that when a feminist talks about sexual assault or violence towards women, he or she is immediately branded a "man-hater," by raving backlashers and yet some crap, pop phenomenon like Eminem can come right out and say he hates women, use aggressive and degrading lyrics, talk about raping, torturing and killing women and he's just "expressing himself." And make millions of dollars doing it. Imagine that directed at any particular race and the outcry there would - and should - be. And that's just one example out of many out there. I believe the hatred towards women in this culture is as extreme as any race hatred in this country's history. It's open, it's accepted and rarely challenged. We've become desensitized to it. And real women are ending up dead every year because of it. If these were race crimes they would justly get the attention they deserve. But because women are dehumanized in this country and throughout the world, people seem to just shrug their shoulders and carry on. I mean, actual slavery exists in even in this country today in the form of sex trafficking in women and children. And yet like you say we choose to blind ourselves to it. I think some of us are getting angry now and renewing the struggle that some old-school feminists seemed burnt out on. We're looking at a battle, though, because it serves many people to pretend it's not going on - there are people who benefit sexually, socially and economically from the abuse, brainwashing and dehumanization of women.
I also like how you quoted that women justified their beatings - that needs to be said because it's important to realize that a lot of cultural attitudes are aggressively taught to young women as they are men, and we participate in our own oppression. In my own household there was violence, and it was a woman who defended it and excused it - and ask many of the women in that community and they would support the underlying beliefs that caused it. I think women need to realize how we're taught to hate ourselves and each other - even our own daughters. Feminism is a worldwide battle for self-respect as much as anything else. It's a battle for both men and women to stop hating women, to learn to treat ourselves and each other with dignity. The big goals of feminism in this next century will be tough ones both here and abroad, but there's hope in awareness - so thanks for the article.
5 - Satanas
All u goddamn feminists speak as if men lives are in dreamland and womens lives are in hell.Well guess what due to single parenting the crime rate of the "western world" has risen 3 folds.....and u don't want to stop there do u? Of course not u want to destroy the whole concept of the nuclear family accepted by nature...and drag millions of people to depression and other mental and physical and deseases.i had a friend who's son was taught in junior school that having sex with his friend,touching each others genitals all that is completely harmless.FEMINISM (RADICAL ETC.) HAS GONE TO FAR.YOU DON'T WANT TO GIVE THE WOMEN IN THE EASTERN WORLD EQUAL RIGHTS U WANT TO CHANGE THEM ALSO INTO MAN HATERS SO THEY WILL LEAVE THEIR CHILDREN THEIR FAMILIES AND BECOME LESBIANS LIKE UR LITTLE RADICAL FEMINISTS.TRUE.....THERE IS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN BUT WHAT ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN WE HAVE GIVEN OUR LIVES FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS FOR YOU....IN THE WORLD WARS WE DIED TO PROTECT YOU AND EVEN TODAY 1000 OF SOLDIERS (90% MALE) ARE FIGHTIN OF TERRORISTS AND OTHER EXTREMISTS AND GIVING OUR GODDAMN LIVES SO U CAN SIT UR WIDE BACKSIDES AND COME UP WITH THESE UTTERLY STUPID RADICAL BULLSHIT THEORIES.FOR OVER FOURTY YEARS FEMINISM HAS THRIVED BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN NO EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION (NEWTON'S 3RD LAW IN PHYSICS) WELL U'D BETTER WATCH OUT CUZ IT'S COMING..AND YA'LL BETTER START RUNNING RIGHT NOW CUZ U CAN RUN BUT U CAN'T HIDE!!!!!
6 - RADICALFEMINISMISEVIL
BOTH MEN & WOMEN R ONLY HALF RIGHT THAT IS WHAT IS CAUSING THE FRICTION [IN BAD WAY: GENDER WAR] BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN: BOTH MEN & WOMEN R LIERS: THAT MEN LIKE TO BELIEF THAT WOMEN R GOOD & WOMEN LIKE TO BELIEF THAT MEN R MEN R BAD: BOTH R VER WRONG: BOTH MEN & WOMEN CAN BE EVIL, JUST AS BOTH MEN & WOMEN CAN BE GOOD; IT DEPENDS ON TH PERSON; IT IS ALSO GENETIC, MEANING SOMETIMES A SON CAN INHERIT POLITE GENES FROM THE MOTHER, WHILE THE DAUGHTER CAN IN INHERIT EVIL GENES FROM FATHER. &, OTHER TIMES MEN & WOMEN CAN BE STUPID, THAT THEY HARM EACH OTHER RATHER THAN HELP EACH OTHER. IT IS THOSE STUPID & EVIL MEN & WOMEN THAT IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE GENDER WAR BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN.
7 - Nancy
#5, you haven't "given your lives" to anyone for anything except your own male-testosterone-poisoned egos. MEN start wars; MEN commit over 98% of crime in the US; MEN commit 99.9% of rapes in the US; MEN commit most violent crimes in the US; & finally, MEN hold almost ALL positions of power, political - educational - economic - in the world. Women are still so rare in positions of power that when it occurs (as with Ms. Pelosi or Ms. Thatcher) it's talked about forever & everywhere.
No woman ever ASKED men to start wars for her. Men do that entirely on their own. Check out the Pentagon, or any other military structure in the world currently. Tell me how many women are at the top, in commanding positions? How many throughout all history? What? I can't hear you: none? Yeah, that's correct: NONE. Zero-zip-nada. None. MEN prosecute wars, for the sake of their own perceived 'face', or for power, or for sheer greed, altho they are usually careful to mask it with carefully orchestrated justifications/lies such as "bringing freedom to the people of Iraq" or "killing all the heretics". MEN, baby, not women. Women, in case you haven't noticed, are invariably the victims of male-generated, male-operated, and male-directed self-serving wars.
Do I hate men? Sometimes. Some of them. The ones that deserve it. Do I hate ALL men? No,certainly not. But I hate the way they think & act, especially when they think & act in a pack, as a group, as MEN, because then they behave & act like subhuman, violent thugs, far closer to our non-human, homininid cousins than the 'sapiens' species we like to think we are.
BTW - your misogynism is showing.
8 - RADICALFEMINISMISEVIL
THE REASON THAT MILLIONS OF WOMEN LIKE TO ACT STUPID IS THAT THOSE MILLIONS OF WOMEN SUFFER FROM RAPE FANTASY, IT IS SUBCONSCIOUS THAT THEY NOT KNOW IT, OR THEY ALL BE LIERS THAT THEY NOT HAVE SUCH FANTASY, WHEN THEY ACT IN SUCH WAS TO LURE RAPISTS, LIKE A PERSON BAITING A FISH, TO CATCH A FISH, SIMILARLY WOMEN LIKE WANT RAPISTS, BUT SOCIETY NOT ALLOW IT, SAME WAY THAT SOCIETY NOT ALLOW MEN TO RAPE, SIMILARLY SOCIETY ALSO NOT ALLOW WOMEN TO HAVE RAPE FANTANSY: ALMOST ALL MEN HAVE FANTASY TO RAPE WOMEN & ALMOST ALL WOMEN HAVE FANTASY TO BE RAPED BY MEN; BUT, THE SOCIETY NOT ALLOW MEN TO BE RAPISTS & SOCIETY NOT ALLOW WOMEN TO HAVE FANTASY TO BE RAPED: IT THESE LIES THAT IS CAUSING THE GENDER WAR: BOTH MEN & WOMEN BE LIERS: THAT IS THIS REASON THAT MEN BE STRICT WITH WOMEN, SINCE NO MAN WANTS HIS WOMAN [GIRLFRIEND OR/& WIFE] TO BE RAPED BY ANY MAN OR/& MEN, EXCEPT HIMSELF, SIMILARLY WOMEN HATE TO BE CRITICIZED, IS WHY WOMEN SAY THAT THEY HATE TO BE RAPED, BUT MOST WOMEN BE LIERS, BUT MEN LIKE TO PRETEND THAT WOMEN BE HONEST: IT THESE LIES MADE BY BOTH MEN & WOMEN THAT IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE GENDER WAR: LIES & NO COURAGE TO DEAL WITH THE LIES MADE BY BOTH MEN & WOMEN. WOMEN LOOK SEXY BUT THEIR MIND IS NOT THAT OF AN ANGEL, SIMILARLY MEN PRETEND TO WANT TO PROTECT WOMEN, MEANING WHAT THEY REALLY WANT IS TO HAVE HER FOR HIMSELF: HE PRETEND TO CARE FOR HER: THAT IS WHY A DOZEN MEN WILL TRY TO PROTECT THE WOMAN, HOPING SHE WILL THANK HIM SEXUALLY LATER: THE REASON WOMEN DRESS LIKE SLUTS IS BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO BE RAPED, EVEN IF SHE NEVER WILL ADMIT THE TRUTH: WOMEN ALSO LIKE TO ACT STUPID, TO GET INTO TROUBLE, HOPING TO GET RAPED, IS WHY MANY WOMEN IN THE MILLIONS LIKE TO ACT STUPID, FOR THE REASON THAT THOSE MILLIONS OF WOMEN SUFFER FROM RAPE FANTASY, TO BE RAPED, JUST AS MEN LIKE TO HAVE RAPE FANTASY TO RAPE WOMEN: BUT, SOCIETY NOT ALLOW EITHER, & WOMEN HATE TO BE CRITICIZE & MEN HATE TO ADMIT TO TRUTH AS MUCH AS LADIES: IT IS THAT THAT IS CAUSING THE GENDER WAY: IT IS FOR THAT REASON THAT WOMEN R NOT BELIEVED IN THE RELIGION OF ISLAM, BECAUSE WOMEN LIKE TO LIE & MAKE FALSE STATEMENTS & EVEN WHEN WOMEN BE VERY HONEST, THEY R NOT ENTIREL HONEST, BECAUSE THEY SUFFER FROM MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER, THAT PREVENT WOMEN FROM BEING ENTIRELY HONEST, IS WHY LADIES WILL GET DRUNK, HOPING TO GET RAPED, BY THEY HATE TO BE CRITIZED FOR IT: BUT, SOCIETY PROTECT WOMEN & THEIR LIES: BECAUSE SOCIETY NOT WANT TO ADMIT THAT WOMEN R NOT THE ANGELS THAT THEY SEEM TO BE: THEY LOOK SEXY, BUT THEIR SOUL IS NOT SEXY: THEY WOMEN HAVE EVIL DESIRES JUST AS MEN HAVE EVIL DESIRES: BOTH CAN BE STUPID & EVIL: IT THAT STUPIDITY & EVIL THAT STUPID & EVIL MEN & WOMEN LIKE TO DO & ACT UPON THAT IS CAUSING THE GENDER WAR: NOT ALL WOMEN & MEN R OR/& LIKE TO ACT STUPID OR/& EVIL, AT LEAST NOT ALL THE TIME, BUT SOMETIMES THEY ALL DO: &, IT IS THE LACK OF TRUTH & HONESTY IN SOCIETY ABOUT THE HIDDEN DARK ASPECTS OF SOCIETY THAT IS THE CAUSE OF THE GENDER WAR: SOCIETY IS TRYING TO ERADICATE 123,456 OF YEARS OF EVOLUTION: TRUTH.
9 - Ray Ellis
I trust comment #8 has been tagged and forwarded to the proper authorities. That person is beyond vile.
10 - Lya Kahlo
It is always amazing to me that on every single post on any blog I have ever seen that talks about violence against women or rape etc there's always at least one boy who comes in to call those who point out the obvious simple realties of the world "man-haters" who want to "destroy men".
Why are they so terrified of women talking about their experiences, or men and women talking about the simple obvious realities of the world?
What, exactly, is to scary? That women will stop putting up with bad treatment or that boys such as these psychotic whiners might actually have to grow up, stop being misogynists and be real men to get a woman?
11 - Nancy
#8 is obviously psychotic. I'm no shrink, but he sounds exactly like the profiles of any number of serial killers & rapists I've read. Not only vile, but really & frighteningly twisted in his rationale for violence against women. Needless to say, any fantasies about rape are entirely his own, projected onto his victims to excuse & justify his behavior & fantasies.
12 - jean-claude
i believe it all starts for the vicious circle of socialisation, when we were born we were tagged to a biological identity MALE or FEMALE, sometimes this was unclear and other times mistaken identities, as children we were given appropriate toys and clothes and thought manners, all of which reinforced the imposed identity, nowadays we talk of multiple identities, transgender identities, and other psychological malaises of which many men and women are victims of, depression is most common amongst women since women are thought to be submissive and never protest so they are silent victims, men are most likely to suffer from heart attack and break down since men are supposed to be tough and never express emotions, all this get complicated in a matter of years and culminates in puberty/adolescence since those are the peaks of getting to fit with expectations, i believe that many go astray both in sexual identity or behavioral patters due to lack of surrounding support of both family and institutions, also we speak of role substitution effeminised men and tough women it all depends whose values we intend to take
13 - lulu
I suppose there's a psychology behind people continually denying that there is a problem--you see this in alcoholic families. WOmen (usually the women) blame themselves or other women and tip toe around the abuser, tell themselves that there isn't a problem or it wouldn't have happened to them if they'd done something different. I see women around me every day in absolute denial--but I feel like I can't do anything. If I try to talk to them about it, they lash out at me, turn vindictive and insulting toward me, and continue to deny anything wrong is happening. Maybe it isn't in their mind, but I can't just shut myself out like that. Or in. I've been treated very wrongly and, well, downright sadistically, by innumerable women in my life. I have been lucky that the men around me, that I am involved with, haven't beaten, raped or tried to kill me. No one tells me I deserve to get raped or beaten, though they have been suggestive. I remember on this one web site (for travel) I belonged to, a girl wrote in to say she'd been assaulted in a hostel, and the men and women both teamed up on her suggesting that if she hadn't provoked the guy (by dressing to sexily or flirting too much) this wouldn't have happened to her. This girl said nothing about having done either one--they just assumed she'd "asked for it."
When I myself grew up in Evanston Illinois, and this was hardly a feminist utopia--my friends and I were educated about the dangers out on the street and in the world, like never trust a stranger. We were taught about periods and how babies are made. It's shocking to me that in this day and age there are girls and women who didn't get even that. I'll stop here but ....
14 - Cindy
What an amazing article. I'm so glad it popped up again and on the very day I am thinking and writing about similar ideas. That is a beautiful quote.
:-)
15 - Cindy
Bryan,
I asked Dave Nalle why you don't write in 'politics'. He said he didn't know and maybe I should write to you and give you some encouragement. So, here it is, assuming this post goes to your e-mail. I really hope you write something sometime if you have time. :-)
16 - Mike dire
Most Women talk much and do little, Oh wait, most Humans talk much and do little, too bad we have it wrong, the problems of the world are all spiritual, and that is a mostly male realm, not exclusive to males though. On the other hand one has to get laid and spirituality does not get you much of that, maybe women should start changing their perfect male standard to something better than what you are choosing now, women help us save the world by helping males do what they ought to do for the good of the whole, not only for your own convenient selfish good, in other words if men are not men enough to take that road women should jump start it. Oh well all this is mostly a lie, the way I see it humans as we know them are done we will only change for the better after something really awful happens and I mean lots of deaths and destruction so we can finally see materialism does not mean life.
17 - Dharitri
@ hostile - Feminism is a movement against women's oppression and abuse. It never qualifies the perpetrator to be essentially male or female. Facts say and unfortunately, in most cases its a man and a women in others.
I witness everyday (in real or over the news)wife beating, abuse and maltreatment, negligence. I do not like it and I understand the causes of such an act do not sufficiently justify the same. I support feminism and women's empowerment!