The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act programs through fiscal year 2009. The legislation increased funding for new rape crisis centers and increased grant money to organizations working on domestic violence issues.
That is cool, but this is not so hotso.
However, an amendment to the legislation, sponsored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), was passed and undermines VAWA’s authority to create programs for women of color and immigrants.
On the floor, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that the amendment would shortchange domestic violence prevention and treatment services that target women of color and immigrant victims of domestic violence.
Meh. That is annoying.
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In 2003, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 26.3 violent crimes per 1000 persons against men, but only 19.0 violent crimes against women per 1000 persons. So why is it that feminists want a Violence Against Women Act when men make up a majority of violent crime victims? And why is it that you refer to black and Hispanic women as "women of color." It sounds like something from the 1950's, although instead of calling them "colored folks" they're now "people of color." Isn't political correctness wonderful?
if you look at who is committing crime its mainly men. which is sad, but true. a lot of the crimes against men actually occur when two men are both committing a crime and one of them get hurt (knife fight, etc). violence against women is trickier. it's built into a whole system of oppression and hatred towards women that often not only commits crimes of violence against women, but makes those crimes (sexual assault and domestic abuse) silent and invisible. laws like VAWA try to render those crimes public and punishable. i'll leave the comment on "women of color" alone for now, because well, it's my bedtime.
I too noticed this article, but wondered about the specifics of the amendment. As for the women of color comment, people use umbrella identities as a means of organizing. They claim those identities because they find them empowering not because they do or do not conform to conceptions of political correctness.