This Is How It Happens

Last updated on: January 17, 2017 at 8:41 am by Libby Anne

This Is How It Happens 2017-01-17T08:41:13-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The “pro-family” lobby frequently uses the language of the “traditional family” to combat efforts to define the family more broadly, including both gay and lesbian couples and other family forms. When I point out that the “traditional family” was one in which things like domestic violence were tolerated and accepted, individuals who engage in this rhetoric are frequently askance—that’s not what they mean, they insist. They mean the family form—man, woman, children—not wife-beating.

Well, according to Right Wing Watch:

Two of the “pro-family” lawmakers behind Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda” are now behind a bill that would “downgrade assault inside the traditional family unit from a criminal offense to a misdemeanor,” according to a report by Tom Balmforth of Radio Free Europe.

There’s more information here:

Addressing the State Duma during the first reading, Olga Batalina [a leader in the country’s “pro-family” movement], one of the bill’s authors, on January 11 said the bill concerns non-serious assaults causing “bruises or grazes.”

She recognized the problem of domestic abuse, but said there are better ways to combat it.

“What’s important is prevention,” she said. “What is important is the chance to help a person who has ended up in this situation. As you understand, help does not consist in bringing one member of the family to administrative or criminal account, but in stopping these things from happening in the future.”

And this, too, from another article:

Domestic violence is endemic in Russia, and overwhelmingly affects women, who account for about 74% of victims of domestic violence in the country, according to government figures from 2013 with 91% of those incidents perpetrated by husbands. Most research on violence in Russia links abuse to alcohol consumption.

According to the Moscow-based ANNA National Center for the Prevention of Violence, women already see little point in seeking legal recourse for abuse, a situation that could worsen if the bill is enacted. Some 74% of women who sought assistance from a national help-line never reported abuse to police, the group said

It appears that this would apply to child abuse as well as violence between partners.

I am not saying that everyone advocating for the “traditional family” secretly wants a return to wife-beating. On the contrary, when individuals tell me that they do not want a return to the days when domestic violence was sanctioned by law, I tend to believe them, so far as that goes. The problem is in the application. You cannot condemn wife-beating while also removing criminal sanctions for domestic violence on the assumption that families can work things out internally.

Actually, perhaps that is the problem—you clearly can condemn wife-beating while also removing criminal sanctions for domestic violence on the assumption that families can work things out internally. But that is not how it will work out. People need to understand that those who allowed wife-beating to go on without legal repercussions a century and more ago were not generally out there cheering for wife-beaters. No, they were out there condemning government intervention into family matters and simultaneously attacking alcohol use and other customs they believed created the situations where domestic violence occurred.

Indeed, the argument being made by Russia’s “pro-family” lobby appears to be grounded in an idea already common on the American Right—that the family is best suited to deal with issues internally, apart from intervention by the government. A woman in an abusive relationship is not generally able to just sort it out. If they could, they would—indeed women in such situations often stay, putting up with violence and fear, because they think they can fix the situation. An abused woman who has concluded that she can’t fix the situation, and that she needs out, needs to know that she can go to the authorities and they will do something about it.

The danger is not in someone declaring wife-beating critical to the existence of the “traditional family.” The danger is in their being able to claim they are against wife-beating, while simultaneously promoting policies that enable wife-beating to take place unhindered, using language that gives them plausible deniability.

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!

Family

abuse

Previous Post

January 16, 2017

Abortion in the Public Imagination

Next Post

January 17, 2017 What Spiritual Warfare Has in Common with New Ageism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What event occurred immediately after Jesus died?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A great flood The temple curtain tore An earthquake split the land The sun turned red