RADAR Alert: North Carolina Program Shortchanges Abusive Women

The Winston-Salem Journal recently reported on a domestic violence mentoring program for boys. If it's a good thing to teach boys that violence against women is unacceptable, one would think it should also be a good thing to teach girls that violence against men is unacceptable. Surely something is needed to counter the images Hollywood bombards us with showing women self-righteously hitting men, sometimes for a slight insult, sometimes for no reason at all.

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The Winston-Salem Journal story tells us the city of Winston-Salem, N.C., Wachovia Corp., and Sara Lee Corp. all think that only boys need to be taught this lesson. Yet it's certainly a lesson that both sexes need to learn. The U.S. Dept. of Justice reports that 36% of those physically assaulted by an intimate partner are men. Clearly the women who physically attack these men were never taught that violence against men is unacceptable.

Girls who learn to think of violence as "empowering" never learn to control their anger, and when they grow up it's not just their husbands and boyfriends who pay the price. Their children suffer as well. The fact that we don't think girls need to learn to control their anger helps explain the fact that mothers are more than twice as likely as fathers to be sole perpetrators of child abuse, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

If Wachovia and Sara Lee were truly public-spirited corporations, they would arrange to have mentors teaching girls as well as boys to keep their inclination toward violence under control.

The Winston-Salem Journal chose to applaud this one-sided program as something that "targets men in a positive way". They could have instead helped open people's eyes by pointing out the bias inherent in the programs, and suggested that Wachovia, Sara Lee, and the city of Winston-Salem should stop shortchanging girls with abusive tendencies.

Since they were too blind to see the bias, we're asking you to write the Winston-Salem Journal, and help open their eyes. Tell them:

1. Girls need to be taught that violence is unacceptable every bit as much as boys need to be taught that lesson.
2. The U.S. Dept. of Justice reports (.pdf file) that 36% of physical assaults on intimate partners are perpetrated by wives or girlfriends.
3. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services reports that "40.8 percent of child victims were maltreated by their mothers acting alone" whereas only "18.8 percent were maltreated by their fathers acting alone"

Here’s the contact information:

Letters to the Editor:

U.S. Mail:

Winston-Salem Journal

P.O. Box 3159

Winston-Salem, NC 27102

letters-at-wsjournal.com

Author of the story:

Patrick Wilson

336-727-7286

pwilson-at-wsjournal.com

Executive Editor:

Carl Crothers

336-727-7277

ccrothers-at-wsjournal.com

Managing Editor:

Jim Laughrun

336-727-7287

jlaughrun-at-wsjournal.com

State/National Editor:

Scott Sexton

336-727-7304

ssexton-at-wsjournal.com

When you write, be sure to include your name, address, and daytime telephone number.

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For more information on the RADAR project, see http://www.mediaradar.org/.

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http://news.mensactivism.org/articles/05/06/08/1411224.shtml