I don’t, personally, think that women carrying guns or knives is an effective way to deal with sexual violence – not out of any kind of pacifist sentiment, but because I believe that we have to tackle the root of the problem and do so collectively.
Neither does the author of this article, but rather than participating in the usual sensationalism and condemnation (‘Lesbian Gangs’!!!), she or he actually takes the time to look at the causes and examine them sympathetically.
Some reasons why I think this article is well written:
Assumes that women’s experiences of violence are not only real, but more common than acknowledged
Seeks to understand their experiences and resulting decisions
Recognises the continuum between so called “minor” harrassment and major sexual violence
Places violence against women in the context of a sexist society
Avoids sensationalism
Avoids portraying the choices of these women as irrational
Uses statistics critically
Not only avoids, but challenges victim blaming
Whilst writing about stranger rape/violence, does acknowledge the existence of acquaintance rape/violence.
Does not hesitate to criticise the police for their attitude and actions/inactions
There are some criticisms I could make of this article, and perhaps my standards are low – it’s incredibly sad that I read it three times before believing it was free of victim blaming, but I think it is definitely on the right track.
An extract:
Large swathes of London are no-go areas for women walking alone at night: men in these areas seem to think that lone women are fair game for abuse, attack and intimidation.
The British Crime Survey estimates that there are nearly 200,000 incidents of rape and sexual assault in England and Wales every year. Of these, the police record about 12,000 and only 6% of these cases result in a conviction.
Young women and girls feel increasingly preyed upon by their male peers. The ante has been upped and there seem to be unprecedented levels of violence between young men and women. It’s not nice to leave your home at night and wonder whether you are a rape victim waiting to happen in a world where there is a general unpleasant and insidious feeling of fear and intimidation, fuelled by catcalls, idle threats and dirty comments made by opportunistic losers.
…
Many women can identify with the anger and frustration as yet another complete stranger sidles up to them in the street and mumbles something disgusting before following them at close quarters. This doesn’t happen once or twice but all day, every day and it has to stop. Women are fed up of being shown such scant respect. It’s annoying in daylight, terrifying at night. Except clearly many women are refusing to be scared, instead they are downright angry and want to take more direct means to deal with these situations.
Now those who govern and police our society can either own the situation and take measures to control the spread of violence and intimidation against women by those who seek to impinge on the freedoms this society bestows on members of both sexes. Or we can carry on carrying knives.
So far I’ve been focusing on reporting here in Aotearoa New Zealand, and I intend to carry on doing so, if only because I already have far more I want to write about than I have time. However, I felt this discussion of the court case and media coverage of four African-American women who defended themselves against a physical and sexual attack was worth quoting for reasons beyond the horrificness of the case.
In particular, it highlights the interplay between the media and the courts, and also examines the influence of racism and homophobia. I quote (and I would certainly recommend reading the whole thing):
Deemed a so-called “hate crime” against a straight man, every possible racist, anti-woman, anti-LGBT and anti-youth tactic was used by the entire state apparatus and media. Everything from the fact that they lived outside of New York, in the working-class majority Black city of Newark, N.J., to their gender expressions and body structures were twisted and dehumanized in the public eye and to the jury.
According to court observers, McLaughlin stated throughout the trial that he had no sympathy for these women. The jury, although they were all women, were all white. All witnesses for the district attorney were white men, except for one Black male who had several felony charges.
Court observers report that the defense attorneys had to put enormous effort into simply convincing the jury that they were “average women” who had planned to just hang out together that night. Some jurists asked why they were in the Village if they were from New Jersey. The DA brought up whether they could afford to hang out there—raising the issue of who has the right to be there in the first place.
The Daily News reporting was relentless in its racist anti-lesbian misogyny, portraying Buckle as a “filmmaker” and “sound engineer” preyed upon by a “lesbian wolf pack” (April 19) and a “gang of angry lesbians.” (April 13)
Everyone has been socialized by cultural archetypes of what it means to be a “man” or “masculine” and “woman” or “feminine.” Gender identity/expression is the way each indivdual chooses or not to express gender in their everyday lives, including how they dress, walk, talk, etc. Transgender people and other gender non-conforming people face oppression based on their gender expression/identity.
The only pictures shown in the Daily News were of the more masculine-appearing women. One of the most despiciable headlines in the Daily News, “‘I’m a man!’ lesbian growled during fight,” (April 13) was targeted against Renata Hill, who was taunted by Buckle because of her masculinity.
