VAWA committee concludes: Domestic violence caused by mouthy women

Trish Wilson has a great entry about exactly why the Bush administration has worked so hard at scaling back women's rights. Some commenters I've read on other blogs find this hostility to basic women's rights unbelievable. It sometimes seems....almost....as if....they HATE women. While there is definitely a touch of medieval-style fear and loathing of women and their basic biology in some members of BushCo (Ashcroft, I'm looking at you), it's not about hating women. It's about preserving male superiority. Granted, preserving male superiority can look like out and out hatred of women, particularly when you consider the work being done to "help" abused wives stay with their "families". Above all, the goal of domestic violence work is to make sure that women continue to respect men.

“The Violence Against Women Act will do nothing to protect women from crime. It will, though, perpetuate false information, waste money and urge vulnerable women to mistrust all men.”

Well, abused wives do tend to come around to distrusting their husbands, and I guess if they are good women that's their husbands are "all men" to them. That might be the meaning of "submitting graciously". Certainly there is nothing graciously submissive about appealing for help to leave an abusive marriage. In fact, there is an internal logic to saying that staying with a man can stop the abuse if you believe in the wifely duty of submission. Odds are men who beat women do so because their authority is being bucked. Wifely submission can cure all family problems!

Anyway, read the blog entry. It's a good round-up and a good way to understand the inexplicable push against preventing domestic violence.