Domesticating Violence
Six years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, time once again stood still in remembrance of that first moment of death. It has become one of the defining rituals of contemporary America; Indeed the depth of the tragedy need not be remarked upon anymore, because of how potent a symbol of loss it has become--the loss of life and as some might argue, the loss of America's innocence. But even in the midst of mourning, there is no denying that the 9/11 attacks have been deftly manipulated, in an effort to domesticate terrorist violence, so that for the average American, terrorist violence is no longer far-fetched in a far-away land, but as real as the corner supermarket. That Americans would seemingly move in lock-step--politically at least--because of fears both real and imagined, only highlights the value of domesticating forms of violence that have never really been tangible for most Americans.
This is not to de-legitimize the possibility of terrorist attacks in everyday life--the recent experiences of British citizens are duly noted here--but to put into high relief that for some American citizens terrorist violence has long been a fact of life. This was the point that Cornel West trenchantly made when he suggested in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks that America had been "niggerized"--a point he reiterated in his lively discussion with Mos Def on Bill Maher's Real Time--suggesting that for many white Americans, they had come face-to-face with the kind of literal and symbolic violence that has long marked the experiences of black folk in this country. The same can be said for the thousands of women, who succumb to forms domestic and sexual violence at the hands of men in this country every year. The recent rape and torture of Megan Williams in West Virginia was a visceral reminder that as we memorialize those who died in the 9/11 attacks, as a nation, we have not expended nearly as much energy addressing the violence and terror that is regularly directed at women in this country, particularly black women.
This was a point that the Chicago Foundation for Women recently made during their 22nd Annual Luncheon, which was symbolically held on September 11th. The luncheon was preceded by the release of a report by the Foundation that suggested that "Violence against women and girls is a cradle-to-grave epidemic that includes: child abuse and incest, bullying, elder abuse, domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, street harassment and the trafficking or prostitution of women and girls for sexual or labor exploitation." The foundation also made clear, via a morning symposium "Violence in Language, Art and Culture: Images to die for?," the ways that popular culture and mainstream media are complicit in the reproduction of violence against women and girls. The popular culture and media piece is critical as the Foundation's report suggest that "A study of American high school students found that the majority of girls and three-quarters of boys thought that forced sex was acceptable under some circumstances, including when a woman had had past sexual experiences or when a boy spent a lot of money on the girl."
Megan Williams, who currently lies in a hospital recovering from a week of rape and sadistic/terroristic abuse at the hands of a group of purported white supremacists, need not read the report from the Chicago Foundation for Women nor be reminded of the historic terror experienced by Black Americans, as she bore witness to the "blood" at the intersections of race and gender. Ironically as reports have surfaced that Williams might have had relations with one of her attackers--kidnappers--and thus Federal prosecutors are reluctant to view the attack as a "hate crime," some are viewing the attack as simply a case of domestic abuse. As Diary of An Anxious Black Woman, rhetorically asked in her brilliant critique of the case, "So, how does 'domestic violence,' which is now being raised as an issue since details revealed that the victim was involved in a case of domestic violence assault with one of those assailants--Bobby Brewster--back in July this year, necessarily shift the way we are to read the heinous nature of this torture and abuse story? As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't. In fact, now that we know the victim was in a previous relationship, we should be even more outraged."
In a society that has made the possibility of domestic violence by terrorists one of the dominant concerns of the contemporary moment, violence against women in literal domestic spaces is little more than an afterthought in the national consciousness.
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Comments
1.
jon says:
this article is crap
09/26/2007 at 5:29 PM
2.
LarryRiedman says:
One common course that domestic violence takes ends in murder-suicide. While the Virginia Tech massacre has commanded the front page, buried in the back pages every day are murder-suicides in which the victims are girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, wives, ex-wives, and other family members.
Actually, these incidents occur more than daily: In the first six months of 2005, 187 women were murdered by their male “intimate partners,” who then killed themselves. (Only eight males were victims.) Also, 47 children were killed. These figures are calculated from “American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States” by the Violence Policy Center.
Any single murder-suicide may be hypothesized to have arisen from a pre-existing mental problem or an incident that pushed the shooter over the edge. However, it’s doubtful that madness would express itself in the same way in hundreds of situations year after year. When the same behavior recurs so commonly, it more likely originates in values, a code of conduct, or a conception of manly behavior.
If that is plausible, sociologists and psychologists ought to mobilize to identify and counter the ideological substructure in which men treat mates and children as disposable in event of their own deaths. Another part of the substructure appears to be a feeling by men of immeasurable grievance against women who reject them.
Some remedies already seem conspicuous. Head off destructive male attitudes in high school, when young men both develop conceptions of male behavior and form their first relationships with women. They need to hear that it is natural for young couples to split up, and that people move on. They need to be told that the impulse to destroy a rejecting woman is in effect an admission that the man thinks he can’t replace her – in other words, a confession of weakness. Put optimistically, young men should be taught that, as the old song says, “There’s more pretty girls than one.”
In April 2007, after a father killed his two small children and then himself, the mother said, “If he was so miserable, why didn’t he just do it to himself?” Every young man should be required to consider that question. Broaching possible suicide to high school boys is abhorrent, but the uncomfortable reality is that some may already have entertained murderous thoughts. De-coupling self-destructive impulses from homicidal ones is a step toward preventing thoughts from turning into murder.
The Violence Policy Center points out that domestic violence pre-figures a large number of murder-suicides, so programs to address domestic violence ought to be enhanced. Citing studies that about 90% of murder-suicides used firearms, the Center recommends efforts to limit access to firearms if an individual has a history of domestic violence and/or has threatened suicide. Thus, addressing gun use and access is a part of the solution, but there is much that can be done short of that.
09/18/2007 at 3:02 PM