Domestic Violence
I am a survivor of domestic violence. My first husband, who died in 1997, attempted to kill me by beating me with a tire iron in September of 1975, fracturing my skull and eyesockets. I have worked with and been committed to domestic violence victims and to ending domestic violence since that time. I have been a witness to the feminist creation of, and development of, the shelter movement since around the time of my own severe battering.
The domestic violence shelter and anti-rape movements in the United States are faltering, in part because DV/rape organizations and shelters are increasingly operated by religious organizations and male professionals rather than those most affected by domestic violence and most vested in ending it– survivors themselves and the women who support them. Ending male violence against women is central to American women’s economic well-being and quality of life. Domestic violence and rape devastate women of any age, and all racial, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. Domestic violence is a leading cause of injury to girls and women and can lead to difficulties on the job, job loss, depression, substance abuse.
I support
- Returning control of the domestic violence/shelter/rape crisis movement to women, as opposed to government bureaucrats and men;
- Funding domestic violence, rape crisis shelters, and men’s domestic violence shelters via a $100 yearly tax on all adult men whose annual incomes are above the poverty level (the “Man Tax”);
- Supplementing funding for domestic violence, rape crisis shelters, and men’s domestic violence shelters via taxes on pornographic magazines, films, websites, strip bars, “gentlemen’s” clubs, brothels, establishments which appeal to male clientele via the objectification of female employees (i.e., Hooter’s), and music featuring violent misogynist lyrics and imagery (i.e., Eminem);
- Requiring domestic violence shelters to create and to be accountable to governing boards comprised of former domestic violence victims or advocates for victims for decisions about policies, budgets and hiring of staff and directors;
- Requiring domestic violence shelters to clearly, visibly and transparently disclose any and all affiliations with religious or faith-based groups in their advertising and informational materials;
- Creating a list of domestic violence shelters nationwide denoting which are faith-based and which are secular;
- No government funding of faith-based domestic violence shelters;
- No faith-based “partnerships” with government- or independently-funded secular domestic violence shelters;
- Allowing experience working with domestic violence victims to substitute year-for-year for college degrees in staffing government-funded shelters;
- Creating a grievance process for victims of rape and domestic violence who believe they have been mistreated in shelters, with grievances heard by governing boards comprised of former domestic violence/rape victims and their advocates as described above;
- Requiring those accused of domestic violence who are under court-ordered restraining orders to wear ankle bracelets so that their movements and location can be tracked. Thousands of women are assaulted and/or killed every year despite having obtained restraining orders against their abusers;
- Transitional housing is essential in order for domestic violence survivors to take control of and move forward with their lives. Congress should fund this transitional housing and should give this project its own line item in the budget. Transitional housing should include co-housing and community housing for greater protection of domestic violence survivors moving out of shelters;
- Women should be permitted to refuse child support from abusive men so long as those men are willing to relinquish parental rights;
- Fathers’ parental rights should be terminated where both mother and father agree;
- Men convicted of murdering, battering or raping their children’s mothers should have their parental rights terminated;
- Battered women charged with assault or murder as a consequence of defending themselves against their batterers should retain parental rights to their children;
- Child support for children whose fathers have voluntarily given up their parental rights should be paid for via the Man Tax described above.
