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Violence Against Women. Not A Hate Crime?

Posted by LibraLady • 9/18/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: abuse, domestic, entertainment, hate crime, media, murders, soci-economical, victims, Violence against Women

One can't do a quarter turn without their eyes seeing headlines pertinent to violence against women.
Rapes, harassment, physical assault, robberies and yes, even murders are the issues that plague the this great nation we live in.
Could some of the violent crimes against women be perpetuated by media entertainment that seems to flock towards broadcasting seemingly mentally unhinged or unsavory characters on various television networks and via music regardless of genre? Or is it sometimes socio-economic issues also be a catalyst?
Remember Jasmine Fiore, Anne Le, Tanecia Smith and many women who had their lives stripped of them. Remember Whitney Houston and scores of other women who were physically or sexually violated while trying to go about their daily lives.
What could they have possibly done to deserve to be murdered? To deserve to be assaulted? Robbed? Beaten within inches of their lives?
Should violence towards women be considered a hate crime and therefore petitioned before legislation as such? What have you, as a woman, done to protect yourself and your female relatives from having this to happen to you?
Men, I am sure that you have women in your lives who are dear to you. Please take a stand, get involved however you can to vanquish this rising epidemic.
Since my last article relevant to this subject matter, several shelters throughout the United States had to close their doors to victims seeking refuge either due to lack of funding, too many victims and not enough vacancies if not a combination of the two

User Comments

9/18/09

Hels

People never attack anyone stronger than them,.. only those (women, children, the homeless, immigrants etc) weaker than them. Thus I would say violence against women is an issue of control and power, not necessarily of hate.

[reply]
1. 9/19/09
  
  dharmathai
  
  i once beat the crap out of a swedish biker guy twice my size cos he was so drunk and being aggressive to me apart from the fact he told me i was stupid.. i do admit though on that day i had my tattoo studio robbed and all my stuff lost from the shop.. and the Swedish guy was one of the cronies of the other studio in that town.. leading me to think he was suggesting that they robbed my shop to get rid of the competition.
  having said this.. i do admit that was twenty years ago and that i dont stand for violence and believe that non-violence is the only way
  As to hate crimes.. all violence is a hate crime, not just against women, and should be a felony
2. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  Although I do see your point about violence against women as being about control and power;manipulation, I still say it that hate has to be a catalyst. Some people do hate what they cannot immediately control and find controlling the hated object/people, etc by inflicting great harm upon the target and at times murder as the final blow for any resilience on the part of the target.
3. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  Oh and one more thing..some countries such as South America don't have legislation concerning violence against women. In some places, violence against women by perpetrators is a way of life. There are no laws protecting women at all. So, if a man, for example feels the desire to throw acid upon a woman's face or person, beat her in the streets amidst onlookers, or eventually resort to killing her, legally not much will be done to him. Brazil, Panama for example has just started petitioning laws to protect women if not enforcing laws that were simply disregarded due to whom ever held office.
9/18/09

MadameX

"Should violence towards women be considered a hate crime and therefore petitioned before legislation as such?"

Absolutely not. The hate crime insanity has already gone far too far--to extend it to any violence against more than half the population would be the last step toward making pretty much any act of violence a "hate crime".

[reply]
1. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  You make some interesting points especially in regards to your statement "to addressing crimes based on the crime, and not on our attempt at guessing at and penalizing what was in the perpetrator's head." That brings me back to my statement in my article/post. What is going on the head of the perpetrator? From my observation, a lot of what goes on some perpetrators' head is directly from what images he/she/they have seen courtesy of the media that sometimes say subliminally to most that "it's okay to do these things". We see mysognistic images everyday that caters to this as well as in some cases, hear it. Although it is not okay to violate anyone by any means(men included), sometimes, it is what perpetrators see and hear that conditions them to accept otherwise.
9/18/09

HollytheHousewife

I don't see how its such a far cry. If you rape,or beat anyone its definately not love. What is the opposite of love? Hate

[reply]
1. 9/18/09
  
  MadameX
  
  And isn't the same true if one man beats up another on the street? By that definition, EVERY crime of violence is a hate crime. In fact, if you want to get biblical, every crime could be--you don't steal from someone you love, do you? And that easily, we're back to addressing crimes based on the crime, and not on our attempt at guessing at and penalizing what was in the perpetrator's head.
2. 9/19/09
  
  crazyTsu
  
  Love, Hate, Anger, Greed, Lust, etc
3. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  well said.
9/18/09

snappysparrow

true. people attack me because they think that im weak hahaha

[reply]
9/18/09

Shiley

As Madame x stated "By that definition, EVERY crime of violence is a hate crime." I don't think we need extra hate crime laws. I think it should be regulated any more on that standard. However, it seems you are talking about a domestic violence issue.

Hypothetically let's say a woman was being beaten by her husband or what ever. This is someone that there is so much opportunity to beat down because she lives with you. Should the laws then reflect how many times the crime has occurred potentially? Is a restraining order enough? Should this act have a more harsh sentence? Don't forget women can abuse their husbands too. Domestic violence isn't one-sided. Men can be abused they just rarely admit to it because they are afraid they won't look manly.

[reply]
1. 9/18/09
  
  MadameX
  
  In many states, domestic violence is treated more harshly than other batteries. Not only is a second offense automatically a felony in some states, but the act becomes a felony in some jurisdictions if children are present, or based on a variety of other factors.
9/18/09

ArsenicCookies

Personally I disagree with the hate crime laws in general as they are only applied to 2 or 3 groups of people. They were good in theory but failed in application.

Do the domestic violence laws need serious reform? Yes

[reply]
1. 9/19/09
  
  Hels
  
  Now that I reread the question "Should violence towards women be considered a hate crime and therefore petitioned before legislation as such?", it is clear that I don't know what a hate crime is. Is it legislation that some countries have and other countries don't?
2. 9/19/09
  
  ArsenicCookies
  
  see below
3. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  Personally, I believe that all laws affiliated with violence, violence against people, (women in this case) need to reform but as long as we the citizens sit idle and just accept things as is, which is what the government/legislation wants any way, it won't happen. Sometimes, I think that a lot of the senseless violence going on is just a ploy for depopulation because perpetrators' have been getting off with pretty light sentences thus far;especially in regards to hate.
9/19/09

cooper

It is a hate crime in some states.

www.adl.org/learn/hate_crimes_laws/map_frameset.html

[reply]
1. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  good article.
9/19/09

Hels

thanks cooper.

The url says "ADL has long been in the forefront of national and state efforts to deter and counteract hate-motivated criminal activity. Hate crime statutes are necessary because the failure to recognize and effectively address this unique type of crime could cause an isolated incident to explode into widespread community tension."

But it still doesn't say what a hate crime is.

[reply]
1. 9/19/09
  
  ArsenicCookies
  
  basically what a hate crime is SUPPOSED to be is an attack or other crime committed against someone soly because of the perpetrators hatred of the victims race,religion, sexuality,creed, etc. Initially it was to deter discrimination and ignorance by imposing steep punishments. What it actually is varies from location to location and really it hurts more than it helps since the only times that I have ever seen it used was to quiet public outrage or when activists groups get involved.
9/19/09

kbrummell

IT SHOULD BE A HATE CRIME. WHEN WE CAN'T BE CONTROLLED, WE ARE HATED UPON. WHAT ASHAME.

[reply]
1. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  and it has been known throughout time that that which cannot be controlled right away are usually hated and hate has a tendency to fuel a lot of the crimes that we see today and the craft the laws that we have in regards to the violence which often times seem to work in favor of the perpetrator more so than the victim.
9/20/09

crazyTsu

What's the deal about wanting to come under "hate crime"? is the punishment better? Then you should ask for better punishment for gender violence
IMO the "Hate" in "Hate crime" is more in a political sense. Meaning, a person harms another unknown person because the victim belongs to some class of people the offender hates
So it would be a hate crime if I hate women, and attack one I see in a mall

[reply]
1. 9/20/09
  
  LibraLady
  
  crazyTsu, in relevance to your last statement of "it would be a hate crime if you hate women, and attack one see in a mall", in a perfect world, I would love to have posed that same question to Raymond Clark who went beyond attacking Annie Le but killing her. She falls completely in the category of your comment. With that being said, yeah, it should be a hate crime and in some states as pointed out by Cooper, it is but it should be in every state because it is a hatred of not only "gender" (but in most cases, hatred has a lot to do with those being considered inferior, weak as the target for those who hate) in this case but also of a crime concerning a "victim that belongs to another class of people" as you put it.
9/20/09

HollytheHousewife

Blah blah blah this is what I know...u hatin on me,my cast iron skillet will be hatin on u...

[reply]
1. 9/20/09
  
  crazyTsu
  
  Hope you are having a nice weekend... vegging out?