There is a persistent debate, in both community and academic circles, regarding domestic violence and gender, and in particular, whether women's domestic violence against men is as common or as serious as men's domestic violence against women. The following articles are useful contributions to this debate. While they acknowledge women's domestic violence, they show that the claim of gender symmetry in domestic violence is not supported by the evidence.
The evidence is that:
The report on the Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from March 30th – April 3rd, 2009, is now available for download on the Promundo website.
The Symposium brought together 439 researchers, activists and practitioners from 77 countries to exchange experiences and forge collective actions for engaging men and boys in achieving gender equality and social justice.
In today’s world, sex has become commodified and industrialized. We see it all the time in print publications, television commercials, cable television shows, major motion pictures, and adult entertainment. Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry that misuses and abuses sex and represents it in disturbing ways. Pornographers sell and produce films based on teen sex, torture porn, humiliation, and/or racist caricatures.
“Women are dumb,” Bryan* said, “they already have a thousand things going on in their mind about you, so when you ask her out, set a specific date and time; don’t leave it open-ended.” I think I almost choked on my dinner as I heard him advise my friend, Dave.* I did not want to get into an argument since I had not seen Bryan since high school, but his sexist remarks needed to be challenged.
What image pops up when you hear the term ''feminist''? Some might imagine unshaven legs and armpits, short hair and a shorter temper. Others might envisage a middle-class humanities academic - perfect prey for ''chardonnay socialist'' gibes. If you imagined both of these, well done. I have hairy pins, I'm bald, I have a background in the liberal arts - and I'm a feminist.
