Rose Afriyie: Violent gender roles

Article here. Excerpt:

'Andrea Dworkin, an author and activist, once said she believed “in the humanity of men against all the evidence.” Color me optimistic. I believe in the humanity of men who have been physically violent, no matter how deeply buried that humanity may be. We have gone to a very dark place when we say that there are crimes people can commit that rob them of their ability to rehabilitate. Faith in rehabilitation is not in opposition to the often-reported high relapse rates of violent offenders. It simply hopes to envision a world where people aren’t doomed to be battered or a batterer after one act of violence has occurred.

But it all starts with us. We may win brownie points in our social networks by polarizing the debate and making it about how much we can stick it to domestic violence offenders in the public eye. But these actions don’t get women any closer to healing, men any closer to questioning their sexism on multiple levels or our society any closer to rethinking conflict resolution in partnership. These constructive activities aim to stifle violence and lead us on the path to healthy relationships.'