Desicritics Comments on Why Do Some Men Think It's All Right to Harass Women and Girls?

Comment by Bill

Sat, 6 Sep 2008 09:27:16 EDT

[URL=A][/URL]

Comment by Arnie

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:00:52 EST

Comment by mrinalini

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:40:21 EST

is that a medical statement, a heartfelt desire, a challenge or a cry for help?

Comment by Varun

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:27:05 EST

mrinalini- if someone bashes my head with a hammer I am dead!

Comment by mrinalini

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:58:49 EST

I took a dive into inconsequentiality to show how inconsequential it is whether it is a male hurt or a female. The hurt should stop, whoever it is. The ratio of men to women only matters to a psychologist. Which we hardly are. We just hope that our indignation will help the right person in the right place to do something effective about it.

Comment by mrinalini

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 15:04:18 EST

Translation: If someone is polite, it doesn't mean he won't kill you. If someone is hitting you over the head with a hammer, it doesn't mean he will kill you. (But you wish he would stop!) I don't know if this offers you any comfort. But there it is. Sir Winston Churchill also said, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." There is also a famous song which goes, "Count your blessings one by one." I learnt it in school. And I'm still alive. By the way, I didn't count them.

Comment by mrinalini

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 14:26:37 EST

Really sorry about your hands, DrPolitics, hope they get well soon. Now, you have proved that an equal number of men and women get battered. We will concede that men are also human beings. We want to stop the battering. Stop counting, and start acting! Teach your children, your family, your neighbours, your friends, your colleagues, anybody you can get hold of, and make them respect women And men. Hurting people doesn't get you anywhere. Hurting people back just prolongs the agony. The quality of mercy is not strained. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. By the way, Sir Winston Churchill said,"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."

Comment by DrPolitics

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:51:10 EST

My Comment of # 14:) I wish to make it clear, when I said It's the opposite, in the US. Men are at the receiving end....I was implying that violence is a confusing and disturbing phenomena, perhaps rooted in the frustrations and disappointments of a hectic society, but it is not gender specific as many would have us believe. In what has been called a "dance of mutual destructiveness, [1] mainstream research indicates that men and women abuse each other with almost equal frequency. For instance, the statistic that "one women is battered every 15 seconds" is based on research by Strass and Gelles which indicate assaults by husbands or boyfriends on 1.8 million women every year, but also found assaults by wives or girlfriends on 2 million men every year. "One man is battered every 14 seconds"? Yes, but who cares? "That study also found that 54% of all violence termed 'severe' was by women." [2] As cosponsors of the American Medical Association's Conference on Family Violence [3], we noted a certain reluctance on the part of some of the participants to address the cycle of family violence. Until we as a society decide to deal with both sides of the issue, we can never hope to find an effective solution to the problem. Since society does not define abuse of men by women as a problem, official police data reflects a much more frequent response to abuse of women by men than of men by women. Therefore, it is not surprising to find over 90% of the calls to police or to hotlines coming from women, not men [4]. If a man called, who would listen?

Comment by Sujatha

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 12:45:32 EST

DrPolitics, I would have to agree with Victor. Although there might be isolated cases of women harassing men in other nations (a la Disclosure), it in no way resembles the kind of harassment that women face on the streets here. I do hope your hands get better soon and we have you back in action. Victor, thank you for your comments. Mrinalini, thank you for your comments. Although there is a lot to quarrel with with the way women are portrayed and treated in movies, I wonder where parenting is in our society. Nachiketa, thank you for your comments. The Blank Noise Project is already doing many of the things you've recommended in your comments. Please check them out when you have a minute.