The Intellectual Perversion of the VAWA Mafia
By Carey Roberts (03/23/08)
When professor Suzanne Steinmetz published the results of her survey on domestic violence, no one had prepared her for the firestorm that would ensue. You see, feminists take it as an article of faith that only husbands abuse their wives.
So when Steinmetz revealed that women are often as violent as their husbands, the fem-fascists started a whispering campaign designed to block her promotion at the University of Delaware. When that didn’t work, they phoned in a bomb threat at her daughter’s wedding. Cowed by the threats, Steinmetz soon suspended her pioneering research.
Erin Pizzey of England had impeccable credentials – she was the founder of the first abuse shelter for women. So a few years later she published Prone to Violence, a book that revealed these women are often as physically aggressive as their mates.
That provoked threats of violence by the women who said women can never be violent. Pizzey was forced to seek police protection as she traveled around to promote her book. She was met by jeering protesters with placards that read, “All men are bastards.”
Dr. Lynette Feder planned to do a study to find out whether batterer intervention programs work. But then the Broward County, Florida district attorney tried to block the study since, he claimed, everyone “already knew” such programs work. Interestingly, other researchers later found such programs are often ineffective.
Claudia Ann Dias is an attorney who has been featured on 20/20 and Oprah for her work on family violence. She was awarded a 10-year contract by the Sacramento County Jail to counsel men arrested for partner violence. Since partner abuse is often mutual, Dias found herself discussing the problem of female aggressors. Six months later, her contract was abruptly cancelled.
Men also have been besieged by the VAWA Mafia, a loosely-organized cabal that takes its name from the federal Violence Against Women Act.
Dr. Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire is the pre-eminent American researcher in the area of family violence. His work points to the politically incorrect conclusion that wives are equally likely to abuse.
The VAWA Mafia has accused Dr. Straus of being a wife-beater and sexually exploiting his students. The unfounded claim was so outrageous that his accuser later apologized. And one of his students was recently warned she would never be able to find a job if she did her graduate work with him.
Dr. Donald Dutton of the University of British Columbia has been branded as “dangerous” for his research debunking the feminist propaganda on partner abuse. Despite prolific publications and an impressive resumé, government officials refuse to confer with him.
When intimidation tactics have failed, the VAWA Mafia has tried to hijack the research itself.
Writing in the American Psychological Association book Prevention of Partner Violence, professor Straus outlines the information-control tactics used by feminist researchers. These include suppressing statistics on female-initiated abuse, reaching conclusions not supported by the data, or simply not asking questions on female perpetration.
For example, Dr. Jennifer Rohling of the University of South Alabama wanted to do a survey of women in abuse shelters. That would be fine, the shelter director said, just so long as Rohling didn’t ask whether any of the women themselves had been violent. “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” as they like to say.
Straus has documented how even government agencies have hobbled the open pursuit of the truth. In one case the U.S. Department of Justice forbade research funds from being used to investigate the victimization of men.
And in February the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released the results of a survey of partner abuse. But the CDC had rigged the questions to inflate the occurrence of abuse against women. [www.mediaradar.org/alert20080211.php]
Last year Dr. Richard Gelles, dean of the School of Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote an article in Family Court Review detailing the myths conjured up by the VAWA Mafia.
Remember the claim that men turn beastly on Super Bowl Sunday? Amusing perhaps, but entirely false.
Or the March of Dimes study that battering of pregnant women is the leading cause of birth defects? In truth, the March of Dimes has never heard of the research.
Gelles terms these myths “woozles” - in honor of the famous Winnie the Pooh story.
And exactly who is the VAWA Mafia? It’s a group of Gender Guerillas who bear the name like a perverse badge of honor. And once we break their stranglehold on the truth and question their odious ideology, we’ll finally be able to curb the abuse.
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Email: Carey Roberts
