[***Moderators' note: Next week we will start a new discussion on prevention and developing safe environments for women and how to learn from some fascinating initiatives from around the world. Next week we will also post a summary of the discussion on the Working Group during the past four weeks.***]
At 10:53 AM 1/31/02, Janey Skinner wrote: >I find this discussion fascinating, if highly inconclusive. I don't find the discussion fascinating, but I do find it inconclusive, and even more I find it tangential to the safety concerns of battered women and their advocates. >I have worked with feminist women's organizations (mostly) that have >partnered with pro-feminist men to offer re-education for batterers, using a >mix of methods but with a heavy skew toward questioning male socialization >and privilege. I am currently working with a community where there are a >high percentage of Pacific Islanders. The people I have worked with in the >Pacific Islander community are much more in favor of a batterer "treatment" >program that is less directly challenging of the abuse, and more focused on >the overall wellness of the men and their families, as what they see as a >more culturally-appropriate response to the violence. If you ask any battered woman, does she want her abuser to change so they can keep the family together, of course she will say yes. This is true across cultures. However, experience has taught us that while she's waiting for him to change, she is in grave danger. In the meantime, precious resources that could be spent on her safety and security are squandered in futile and unproven attempts to change him. I have long given up the struggle to figure out why abusers abuse. They do it because they can, and because it gives them results. I would like to suggest to the moderators that we talk about some different topics, such as effective advocacy for women. I was fascinated to read of the experience of some of the women's programs in Africa and I would like to hear more. I notice that African women have not been contributing to this discussion to any great extent. Perhaps it is because--on a continent where many women experience great deprivation and danger--abuser treatment is not as big a concern as women's survival. ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
