Why I Love Gender Studies, But Hate Everything Else

Today, one of the CNN reporters I follow posted a story involving a high school student killed by her abusive boyfriend. Of course, this leads her the reporter adding her two cents in, which is fine--it's everyone else's annoying opinions that get in the way. Now I know better than to comment, because this reporter is a feminist herself who will, of course, focus on women as the victims. And thankfully there are the occasional comment about how women can also be abusive.

Then, there was this comment.

"Shifting the discussion to male victims is like trying to make a case for "reverse-racism." Fact is, males are less than 10% of the victims of domestic abuse and they certainly aren't murdered on a daily basis the way that women and girls are. Men commit 90% of the murders in this country, and most are against people they know."

Ummm....I don't even know where to start. To focus on this comment in particular, I have this:

1) Yes, the statistics are true...to a point. To be more specific, males are victims of less than 10% of REPORTED domestic abuse cases involving PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. It is impossible to argue that the statistics out there are accurate when

• Men have zero support when it comes to reporting domestic abuse against a women,
• Men are so stigmatized to report abuse because they are supposed to be the "stronger" sex,
• Abuse is not just physical violence, it is also mental, emotional and verbal abuse as well--which women are far more likely to use over physical hitting,
• And if it is verbal/emotional abuse, what evidence does the man have when it's all so arbitrary?

2) Statistics on murder just made the argument invalid. See how easy it is to make a point all pretty when you disregard all other crimes that are committed? "Men commit 90% of murders! That clearly must mean that they are VIOLENT and women aren't. Hell, men might as well have committed the other 10% as well!" That, and it implies that domestic abuse is the equivalent to murder........I recognize they're both bad, but.....hell, there's enough debate about executions, won't go into that. D:


3) The part that bothers me the most is that the commenter compares male victims to reverse-racism. Which, again with the lists, made me think of a couple disturbing things.

• Suggesting that women should be excused from discussions about domestic abuse because they're reported as the victims more?
• Suggesting men CAN'T be a victim of domestic abuse?
• What about the other 10%? Shouldn't we, as people against domestic violence, make a case for ALL victims and not just the majority of them?

Essentially, it comes down to is it OK to compare victims of domestic violence to reverse-racism? If we define racism as prejudice against a racial minority, then sexism is prejudice against a gender minority...in the case of domestic violence, male victims are clearly the gender minority, and therefore the commenter's post is clearly sexist.

And that's why I want to write a thesis on stereotypes and males in the media. Boom. *bow*