Before I heard the speech – Violence Against Women, I thought feminists were annoying since gender pay gap is insignificant comparing to unfair geographical wealth distribution (Green, 2016). When over 3 billion people live on less than $2.5 a day (11 Facts About Global Poverty, n.d.), why would I care about gender issues? Violence against women is men’s issue, and men should speak up, who can really make a difference. Furthermore, Gender issues have interrelationship with other serious problems, such as crime, education and racism.
Men benefit from feminist movement significantly. Boys are directly affected by domestic violence. When boys witnessed that their father abuse their mother or sisters, they were victims. Violence of their father would stick in their head and change their lives. Boys who have abusive father are more likely to be in jail. United States has the largest prison population (Highest to Lowest – Prison Population Total, n.d.). Gun control is a last-forever debate because of gun violence. These issues are all relatable to domestic violence of men. Many prisoners are victims of their fathers’ violence. 57% perpetrators of mass shooting had abusive fathers. Homelessness, drug issues, HIV, and alcoholism all have connections with domestic violence. Boys who are victims of domestic violence are more likely to drop out school. When there is no peace at home, there is no peace in the world. In the final analysis, violence against women is men’s issue. Men should be responsible for domestic violence.
Men should stop making excuses for not participation in the movement against domestic violence. However, dominant group will always find excuses for not doing what they should do. Some men may say gender issues are women’s issues. It’s like saying dictatorship is Chinese, North Korean, Russian, and African people’s issue. Terrorism is middle west people’s issue. Environment problems are Chinese and Indian governments’ issue. People in power will always find ridiculers excuses to be not responsible for challenging problems. When people talk about gender issues, people would think gender equals women and gender issues are women’s problem. Similarly, racism is African American, Latino, and Asian’s issue. Other people’s issues give the dominant group excuses not to be responsible. For hiding their crime, the dominant group will also change sentences to passive voice. For example, people will see how many teenage girls got pregnant in daily news, but they usually don’t get information about how many men raped girls. There are also other techniques men use to be not responsible. For example, when a man abused his wife, men would say it was a family issue, or try to defend the perpetrator, say something like “He had a bad day. His life is miserable.” People should think about how domination works and participate in the conversation about violence against women.
As men, they can make a difference. Education system should raise awareness of domestic violence, and teachers should let their students to talk about this issue. Sexism contributes to domestic violence. When people make inappropriate comments on women, men should speak up and tell people to shut up. Silence also contributes to domestic violence. Silence means to consent. The Chinese really do not care about strangers. When female soldiers got raped by Chinese Communist Party’s officials, no one cared. Now, many of children might be raped by teachers. Not married women over 27 years’ old are called leftover. Chinese police can beat people in street, who refuse to do what the police asked. Speak up before everything is too late. People can make use of peer pressure to encourage boys to participate in the conversations. The method is called bistandard. For example, educators can make students watch violence scenes and let them talk about the scenes. It’s important to let students to understand that strong people speak up, and it’s not ok to keep silent.
Men in the world, stop making excuses, participate in the conversation of domestic violence for your own good, and make a difference.
References
11 Facts About Global Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved from dosomething: https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-global-poverty
Green, J. (2016, February 2). Is the Gender Pay Gap Real? Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it0EYBBl5LI
Highest to Lowest – Prison Population Total. (n.d.). Retrieved from prisonstudies: http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All
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