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January
Abusegate: a generation deceived
I’ve followed the issue of Climategate with
great interest, as it has seemed that the issue has
mirrored events in the field of domestic violence
and partner abuse. Abusegate also occurred due to
money, political power, and careers at stake.
Where Abusegate is concerned, however, there is
one more element – the life or death of
feminism, and its determination to liberate women
from the so-called “oppression” of
marriage and family. The story of Abusegate is as
much about the attempt by feminists to obscure
their real intentions as it is about feminist
attempts to conceal the reality of partner abuse,
in order to claim the issue as their own, and
possibly the only issue available at the time to
keep this essentially destructive philosophy
alive.
As Joanne Nova, [1]
Australian science writer has said, “Science
has come full-circle, taking a page from the
medieval Church by using fear and persecution to
silence skeptics. The oppressed have become the
oppressors. Given that most professional scientific
bodies and peer-reviewed journals have been active
accomplices in this scandal, one wonders how many
other so called scientific consensuses have been
similarly engineered and waiting for their own
ClimateGates before truth is known.”
That quote is important because it addresses the
politicization of science and research. Dean Esmay,
the owner of Dean’s World, [2]
where I blog occasionally as part of a group,
has often commented that politics and science
don’t mix. While I haven’t been in the
field of research myself, it’s fairly
well-known that going after grants and funding has
become a difficult process, often fraught with
politics and cronyism.
What feminism is supposed to be about is the
definition provided by Merriam-Webster.
1 : the theory of the political, economic, and
social equality of the sexes
2 : organized activity on behalf of women's
rights and interests. This is a current popular
definition, however, and has little to do with the
goals of feminism, which has its roots not only in
Marxist ideals, but also in anti-male hatred and a
desire for power and control over society where it
is most beneficial to feminists themselves.
According to [3] Erin
Pizzey: “There never was a feminist movement.
A bunch of disenchanted women refused to support
their left wing men who were fighting capitalism.
They changed the goal posts and said capitalism was
no longer the battle ground it was now 'Patriarchy'
and declared war on all men and the
family.”
In the 1970s, and into the 1980s, feminism was
still an emerging movement. Except for the halls of
academia, which began to offer “women’s
studies” courses, and a few academicians
pushing “feminist law,” and
“feminist psychology,” the general public
had little interest in a movement that was so
clearly designed to create antipathy between not
only the sexes, but between career women and those
choosing more-traditional paths for themselves.
It was about the same time that the issue of
partner abuse began to emerge as an issue on the
public radar. In 1971, Erin Pizzey founded the
first shelter for abused women in the UK. There
were also a few shelters for women developing
independently in various places in the US.
This did not escape the attention of the zealots
of the feminist faith and other opportunistic
women. Surely there was profit and power to be
gained in promoting this cause.
According to the [4]
Herstory of domestic violence, “In the 1970s
‘We will not be beaten’ becomes the
mantra of women across the country organizing to
end domestic violence. A grassroots organizing
effort begins, transforming public consciousness
and women's lives. The common belief within the
movement is that women face brutality from their
husbands and indifference from social
institutions.”
A theory regarding abuse was formulated, relying
almost entirely on feminist supposition and the
input from self-identified abused women. There has
never been any kind of formal research or
investigation of the feminist theory of abuse; it
has simply been presented as a fait accompli and
seldom, if ever, questioned. A look through the
“Herstory,” (on the Minnesota Center
Against Violence and Abuse website, funded by your
tax dollars) reveals a stunning lack of mention of
research of any kind behind the feminist concept of
domestic violence.
Del Martin [5] a
lesbian activist, wrote one of the earliest works
on the issue in 1976. She says, “At the outset
I was told I had to produce extensive and
verifiable statistics on the incidence of violence
against women…I concluded that incidence and
incidents of violence in the home reached into the
millions. My editor deleted my estimate on the
grounds that I couldn’t prove it. Since then,
academia has confirmed my virtual estimate and
admitted that lacking uniformity in the way data
are accumulated makes it impossible to provide
actual statistics.”
Lenore Walker [6]
author of "The Battered Woman" “When I first
began my study of the psychological impact of
domestic violence on the battered woman, it was the
mid 1970s and the feminist movement had a negative
reaction to anything that came with a clinical
psychology label…”
Ellen Pence Duluth [7]
Domestic Abuse Intervention Project “Many
things that we did were new and groundbreaking. We
introduced the power and control wheel and its
accompanying theoretical framework, which tried to
shift away from seeing violence against women as
the problem of a few psychologically distorted men
and lots of bad marriages, by linking men’s
violence toward their partners to other forms of
domination—class, race, gender, and
colonization. We built on the work of previous
projects that held individual agencies responsible
to protect women and proposed a fairly bold notion
of linking agencies together and forming a
community-based advocacy program.”
This is probably the most astonishing fact of
Abusegate: While Climategate has at least some
basis in research and scientific theory, there is
none whatsoever behind the myriad programs and laws
established since the 1970s by the so-called,
“Battered Women’s Movement.” Even
the term itself was created for its impact by
feminists whose goals had very little to do with
providing aid for women.
As radical activist Susan Schecter [8]
said, "I believe it is most urgent for this
movement's future to declare that violence against
women is a political problem, a question of power
and domination, and not an individual,
pathological, or deviant one. Continuing to make
violence against women public is itself a crucial
continuing task. We also must become a movement led
by battered women, women of color, and working
class women. We must develop a progressive agenda,
a long range vision of what kind of society is
needed so that violence against women would not
exist, and to ally with groups sharing a vision of
a just society" This statement appears on the main
page of the website for the West Virginia Coalition
Against Domestic Violence, [9]
also funded by your tax dollars.
Since the early days of the Battered
Women’s Movement, nearly everything that has
come after has been based on feminist principles
devised out of thin air. Even today, in the US
there is no standard definition of what domestic
violence is or is not. Yet thousands of men are
incarcerated, families destroyed, and women and
children thrown into a permanent condition of life
in turmoil because of nothing but the aberrant
personal beliefs of a few women a generation
ago.
While the feminists of the 20th Century are
dying off or retiring, their ugly legacy of
opportunism remains. Legions of divorce lawyers,
shelter advocates, and organizations providing
feminist education all benefit from the
multi-billion dollar industry that now forms the
basis of society’s approach to partner
abuse.
The real tragedy of Abusegate is that victims of
genuine partner abuse are still left without hope
and support. They have been doubly victimized by a
society that has been too willing to accept answers
without first considering the problem.
Reference Links
1. Joanne Nova joannenova.com.au/global-warming/climategate-30-year-timeline
2. Dean's World deanesmay.com/2009/12/03/climategate-hitting-more-than-just-one-area-of-science
3. Erin Pizzey www.erinpizzey.com
4. Herstory of domestic violence
www.mincava.umn.edu/documents/herstory/herstory.html
5. Del Martin www.mincava.umn.edu/classics/chapters/Chapter%2011%20Martin%20reflection%20by%20Martin.pdf
6. Lenore Walker www.mincava.umn.edu/classics/chapters/Chapter%2015%20Walker%20reflection%20by%20Walker.pdf
7. Ellen Pence www.mincava.umn.edu/classics/chapters/Chapter%2023%20Pence%20reflection%20by%20Pence.pdf
8. Susan Schecter www.mincava.umn.edu/classics/chapters/Chapter%2014%20Schechter%20reflection%20by%20Schechter.pdf
9. West Virginia Coalition Against
Domestic Violence www.wvcadv.org
©2010, Trudy W.
Schuett
* * *
Trudy W.
Schuett is an Arizona-based online veteran with 10
years in cyberspace; an author and multiblogger.
She has held workshops on blogging, writing, and
promo for writers at the New Communications Forum
and Arizona Western College, and has participated
in world blogging events such as Global PR Blog
Week. She is also an advocate for unserved victims
of domestic violence. She is is the author of three
novels, two how-to books and eight blogs. Note:
Books are currently out of print, but two appear in
blog form. She currently publishes New Perspectives
on Partner Abuse at partnerabuse.com.
She has a video at her site that provides a look
into the circumstance of a few men. Entitled,
Husband
Beaters
It is in five parts and was part of the Secret
Lives of Women series on the WE network. She
publishes the AZ
Rural Times 
and New
Perspectives on Partner
Abuse ,
she is on Twitter
and Facebook
She lives in Yuma AZ, with her husband, Paul.
desertlightjournal.blog-city.com/
or E-Mail.
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