France to ban 'psychological violence' in marriage

Submitted by anthony on Fri, 2009-11-27 19:59

Story here.

'PARIS — France is to pass a law banning "psychological violence within the couple" and study the idea of tagging violent partners to prevent them stalking their victims, the government said Wednesday.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced the measures in a speech to mark the United Nations' tenth International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, promising legislation in the first half of nest year.

"It's an important step forward: the creation of this offence will allow us to deal with the most insidious situations, situations that leave no visible scars, but which leave their victims torn up inside," he said.

"And we are going to experiment with electronic surveillance measures on the Spanish model to monitor the effectiveness of restraining orders against a violent spouse," he added.

Spanish judges now have the power to force convicted a wife-beater to wear a watch-sized electronic bracelet that triggers an alarm if he gets too close to his former victim and gives her a chance to call the police.

Since June, 58 men have been tagged and police have been called 222 times.

Last year, 157 French women were killed by their husband or partner.'

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1116835.ece

"Elle was surprised by the sense of victimisation and the anger of men towards women — especially among the younger generation — revealed by the Centre de Communication Avancée study. “They think women have gone too far, too quickly, without setting any limit to their demands or ever questioning themselves,” Elle said.

Modern men see women as “castrating, vengeful, power-hungry and obsessed by men’s sexual performance”.

The study, based on interviews with four 12-man focus groups of urban professionals, was commissioned to mark International Women’s Day tomorrow. The findings echoed the refrain of male grievance familiar over the past decade in France and across the Westernised world.
...
Men blamed advertising and the media for treating them as useless or sexual objects. They had suffered various phases of “destabilisation”. In the Sixties and Seventies they had experienced the moral revolution and the doctrine of female equality.

In the Eighties they had faced “implosion” through an explosion of models, from Golden Boys to gays and the Rambo type. In the Nineties they had been stressed by unemployment, aids, globalisation and the failure of the “masculine” technocratic model of society that had prevailed in France.

Younger men were said to be more unhappy than their elders. The 25-35 group felt that women “consume men and abuse them sexually”. The saddest group seemed to be those aged 20-25, who the magazine defined as “subjugated and feminised”."

But feeling abused and used by women is one thing-- being attacked or killed is another. What are the stats on the number of men in France assaulted and/or murdered by intimate partners? Anyone know? I Googled and of course, found nothing, at least not in English.

This from Canadian researchers, though.

"VIOLENCE BY WOMEN AGAINST MEN IS RAMPANT, BUT UNREPORTED
Female pedophilia is finally surfacing as the hidden problem it has always been.
Boys are regularly assaulted by female teachers and care givers.

Far More Women Assault Men than the opposite:

There are many surverys proving that more women assault their spouses than the other way around. Some 65% of women reported that they regularly hit their husbands. Of course no real man can complain that his wife is assaulting him. He will not be believed and the police would probably arrest him.

These figures do not include the emotional abuse that women are so expert at inflicting on men. Men are driven by women past their breaking point with malicious intent so the woman can claim he really is an "abusive bastard." Until emotional torture is also considered a crime, women will continue to get away with assualt and criminal abuses in all family and criminal law matters."

But Canada is not France, even if many Canadians happen to speak the French language.

Wikipedia has finally caught up with reality, and includes a section on male DV victims here under its "Domestic Violence" entry, making mention of Murray Strauss' research.

Finally, I also found this on about.com under "Divorce support". It is heartening to see it in the search results from a fairly well-trafficked site.

"When we ignore male victims of domestic abuse, we also ignore their children, who continue to be damaged by witnessing the violence regardless of how severe it is. We cannot break this intergenerational cycle by ignoring half of it. That's why a global coalition of experts has formed to support a research-based, inclusive approach, and their website has solid data showing women initiate the violence as often as men.
...
A recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found female students initiate partner violence as often as male students and controlling behavior exists equally in perpetrators of both sexes."

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2009-11-27 21:04

Nagging is domestic violence and emotional abuse.
And don't let anyone tell you any different.
When taken within this context - women are BY FAR the main abusers in relationships.

oregon dad

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Submitted by oregon dad on Sat, 2009-11-28 02:46

manonthestreet

Women can inflict the most acutely painful mental torture on men that goes on for decades. This is not my theory but my experience.

It is why I am so bitter and hate filled.

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Submitted by trotter on Sat, 2009-11-28 19:04