Violence Against Women

I'm sure everyone in Britain must have heard about the story of the 5 women killed in Ipswich recently. It's a terrible story and it reminded me of a piece in the latest Amnesty INternational magazine, as part of their big campaign to end violence against women. When I first thought about writing about this issue, I was thinking about the fact that they need a lot of men to come on board to show their support because in places like Guatamala (see below), the oppression of women is systemic, and women themselves are trapped in the cycle, feeling that they, and the male relatives of the female victims, can do nothing to stop what is happeneing.

Last year at least 665 women were murdered in Guatemala - many were raped and tortured. Not a single one of their murderers was brought to justice. In the UK this kind of violent rape and murder would attract police and media attention, but in Guatemala it goes virtually unnoticed, except by the devastated family and loved ones.

AIUK : Guatemala appeal

What I've realised with the reports that have come out about the killings in Ipswich are that people in the UK are still trapped like that, thinking that these women had it coming to them, and blaming the women for their fate, and a single unsolved murder of a Glasgow prostitute earlier in the year just highlights the fact that the only reason this is being reported as much as it is is becuase of the number of women involved.

I give short shrift to the Germain Greer assumption that all men are potential rapists, because that dismisses the role that female journalists and others have played in characterising attacks against women  so that prostitution and prostitutes aren't given the protection (and indeed, the safe escape) they need. And of course, once you say the lives of one section of society are less important simply because of the circumstances they find themselves in (and which arre partially due to the actions of the local police and council), it's very difficult to draw a line to say whose lives *are* important. That is why, as a man, I  have to stand up and protest against this violence, here and abroad, without judging the lives of the women involved. Stand up against violence to protect all our wives, girlfriends, sisters and daughters, especially where the violence is hidden behind a curtain of social convention that blames the women who get raped, beaten and killed rather than the people who do it.

One Man Fight

@<

technorati tags:amnesty, violence, women, ipswitch, guatamala, makeastand, politics, news, amnestyinternational

Blogged with Flock