Carey Roberts: Abuse Industry Teaches Women to Fear Men, Teaches Men to Fear Women

Article here. Excerpt:

'Recently I attended a domestic violence conference hosted by a church in my community. "The Church's Role in Addressing Domestic Violence in the Faith Community," the glossy brochure explained.
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I opted to screen a video called "Defending our Lives," featuring the accounts of five women incarcerated for murdering their partners. All insisted their lethal actions were taken solely in self-defense.
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The video then claimed domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. That myth has been debunked by persons like professor Richard Gelles of the University of Pennsylvania who derides such claims "factoids from nowhere." (The actual leading causes of female death are accidental falls, motor vehicle accidents, and over-exertion.)

And then the coup de grace: "Battered women who kill have longer sentences than serial rapists."

The source of that outrageous factoid? Well, nobody seemed to know -- and no one really cared. After all, we've got an epidemic of domestic violence on our hands, so any make-believe statistic will do.

The effect of the conference was to teach women to distrust and fear the men in their lives as latent, if not actual abusers. Husbands, boyfriends, brothers, even teenage sons - all are now suspect.

Also attending the conference were a State's Attorney and an aide to a federal Congressman. Realizing that women outnumber men in elections, politicians have become sympathetic to women's concerns these days.'