Who-Stole-Feminism.-How-Women-Have-Betrayed-Women

198 WHO STOLE FEMINISM?percent of the women they spoke to said they had been "pushed, grabbed,shoved, or slapped"; they were all classified as victims of domestic violenceand added in to get a projection of four million victims nationwide.No effort was made to find out if the aggression was mutual or whetherit was physically harmful or seriously intimidating. If a couple has a fight,and she stomps out of the room (or yard), and he grabs her arm, thiswould count as a violent physical assault on her. 33If the survey's data can be trusted and we interpret them in the carefuland reasonable way that Gelles and Straus recommend, then we maylearn that the worst kinds of abuse may be abating. That is still nothingto celebrate. If up to 3 percent of American women who are married orliving with partners are at risk of serious abuse, that would amount to 1.6million women. If the higher figures Gelles and Straus found are right(3-4 percent), then the number of women at risk is 2.2 million. Bothnumbers are tragically large and speak of an urgent need for preventionand for shelters and other help for the victims.But how does this help the gender feminist in her misandrist campaign?She needs to find that a large proportion of men are batterers; ameager 3 or 4 percent will not serve her purpose. As for journalists andthe newscasters, their interests too often lie in giving a sensational ratherthan an accurate picture of gender violence, and they tend to credit theadvocacy sources. Better four million or five than one or two. Evidently,Time magazine felt six was even better. And all the better, too, if themedia's readers and viewers get the impression that the inflated figuresrefer not to slaps, shoves, or pushes but to brutal, terrifying, life-threateningassaults.Gender feminists are committed to the doctrine that the vast majorityof batterers or rapists are not fringe characters but men whom societyregards as normal—sports fans, former fraternity brothers, pillars of thecommunity. For these "normal" men, women are not so much persons as"objects." In the gender feminist view, once a woman is "objectified" andtherefore no longer human, battering her is simply the next logical step.Just how "normal" are men who batter? Are they ordinary husbands?These are legitimate questions, but the road to reasonable answers is alltoo often blocked by feminist dogmas. By setting aside the feminist roadblocks,we can discern some important truths.Are the batterers really just your average Joe? If the state of Massachusettsis typical—the large majority of batterers are criminals. Andrew Klein,