Flood takes us for duds
30 November 2009 | Chris Key
In the report, Respectful Relationships Education Violence prevention and respectful relationships education in Victorian secondary schools, Michael Flood argues that feminist theories on violence against women ought to be used as the blueprint for any school-based program designed to combat violence against women because, as he says, feminism was/is primarily responsible for bringing attention to man-on-woman violence. Flood referred to feminist research offers the "most comprehensive and credible account of the causes and consequences of relationship and family violence".
History suggests Mr. Flood is either a liar who is spreading information he knews to be untrue or, is not familiar with the subject he's talking about. The first women's shelter in England was set up not by a feminist, but by a non-feminist, Erin Pizzey. There was no "feminist theory" or "feminist literature" on domestic violence when Pizzey created England's first women's shelter, as Pizzey explained in the Daily Mail's
"All the social agencies knew about domestic violence, but nobody talked about it. I searched for literature to help me understand this epidemic, but there was nothing to read except a few articles on child abuse in medical journals.
...
"So in 1974 I decided to write Scream Quietly Or The Neighbours Will Hear, the first book in the world on domestic violence."
In the same article, Mrs Pizzey boldly stated "I [Erin Pizzey] have never been a feminist" because "having experienced my [her] mother's violence, I always knew that women can be as vicious and irresponsible as men".
If the battering Pizzey's mother gave a then six-year-old Erin wasn't enough reason for her to believe women could be as vicious as men, then the observsations she made while she worked at her women's shelter confirmed it.
"Meanwhile, our little house was packed with women fleeing their violent partners - sometimes as many as 56 mothers and children in four rooms. All had terrible stories, but I recognised almost immediately that not all the women were innocent. Some were as violent as the men, and violent towards their children."
Pizzey's shelter for women devised a treatment programme for women in 1972. The programme helped the women see accept responsibility for their violence when it was warranted.
"With the first donation we received in 1972, we employed a male playgroup leader because we felt our children needed the experience of good, gentle men. We devised a treatment programme for women who recognised that they, too, were violent and dysfunctional. And we concentrated on children hurt by violence and sexual abuse."
The other feminist refuges in England were another story altogether. Their programmess "described only male violence against women".
The blue-gun-thugs (police) and other social-law organisations were one-eyed in their approach to the problem, too.
"Slowly, the police and other organisations were brainwashed into ignoring the research that was proving men could also be victims."
An inspired Pizzey vowed to speak the truth, even if it affected her safety.
"Despite attacks in the Press from feminist journalists and threatening anonymous telephone calls, I continued to argue that violence was a learned pattern of behaviour from early childhood."
Pizzey's safety was jeopardied to the point of needing assistance from the blue-gun-thugs.
"Because of violent threats, I had to have a police escort around the country."
According to Pizzey, feminists worldwide have been successful in promoting the myth that domestic violence is a problem for women and children that is created exclusively by abusive men.
"In a matter of months, the feminist movement hijacked the domestic violence movement, not just in Britain, but internationally.
"They came out with sweeping statements which were as biased as they were ignorant. 'All women are innocent victims of men's violence,' they declared.
"It was bad enough that this relatively small group of women was influencing social workers and police. But I became aware of a far more insidious development in the form of public policy-making by powerful women, which was creating a poisonous attitude towards men."
No wonder Pizzey believes the feminist movement was "based on a lie" and "would result in the complete destruction of family life".
