{"id":31741,"date":"2017-01-16T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=31741"},"modified":"2017-01-17T08:41:13","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T12:41:13","slug":"it-can-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html","title":{"rendered":"This Is How It Happens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The \u201cpro-family\u201d lobby frequently uses the language of the \u201ctraditional family\u201d 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 \u201ctraditional family\u201d was one in which things like domestic violence were tolerated and accepted, individuals who engage in this rhetoric are frequently askance\u2014that\u2019s not what they mean, they insist.\u00a0They mean the family form\u2014man, woman, children\u2014not wife-beating.<\/p>\n

Well, according to\u00a0Right Wing Watch<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Two of the \u201cpro-family\u201d lawmakers behind Russia\u2019s ban on \u201chomosexual propaganda\u201d are now behind a bill that would\u00a0\u201cdowngrade assault inside the traditional family unit from a criminal offense to a misdemeanor,\u201d according to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by Tom Balmforth of Radio Free Europe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s more information here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Addressing the State Duma during the first reading, Olga Batalina [a leader in the country\u2019s \u201cpro-family\u201d movement], one of the bill\u2019s authors, on January 11 said the bill concerns non-serious assaults causing \u201cbruises or grazes.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recognized the problem of domestic abuse, but said there are better ways to combat it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s important is prevention,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this, too, from another article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u00a0government figures<\/a>\u00a0from 2013 with 91% of those incidents perpetrated by husbands. Most research on violence in Russia\u00a0links abuse to alcohol\u00a0<\/a>consumption.<\/p>\n

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<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It appears that this would apply to child abuse<\/a> as well as violence between partners.<\/p>\n

I am not saying that\u00a0everyone advocating for the \u201ctraditional family\u201d secretly wants a return to wife-beating. On the contrary, when individuals tell me that they do not\u00a0want 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\u00a0criminal sanctions for domestic violence on the assumption\u00a0that families can\u00a0work\u00a0things out\u00a0internally.<\/p>\n

Actually, perhaps that is the problem\u2014you clearly can<\/em> condemn wife-beating while also removing criminal sanctions for\u00a0domestic 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.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the argument being made by Russia\u2019s \u201cpro-family\u201d lobby appears to be grounded in an idea already common on the American Right\u2014that the family is best suited to deal with issues internally, apart from intervention by the government. A woman in an abusive relationship\u00a0is not generally\u00a0able\u00a0to just sort it\u00a0out. If they\u00a0could, they\u00a0would\u2014indeed women in such situations often stay, putting up with violence and fear, because they think they can<\/em> fix the situation. An abused woman who has concluded that she can\u2019t fix the situation, and that she needs out,\u00a0needs to know that she can go to the authorities and they will do something about it.<\/p>\n

The danger is not\u00a0in someone declaring wife-beating critical to the existence of the \u201ctraditional family.\u201d The danger is in their being able to claim they\u00a0are against wife-beating, while simultaneously promoting policies that enable wife-beating to take place unhindered, using language that gives them\u00a0plausible deniability.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":31745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[322],"class_list":["post-31741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-abuse"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Is How It Happens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Russia's 'pro-family' lobby is working to decriminalize domestic violence -- and they're using arguments already common on the American Right.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Is How It Happens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia's 'pro-family' lobby is working to decriminalize domestic violence -- and they're using arguments already common on the American Right.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-16T16:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-17T12:41:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2017\/01\/fear-1131143_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"626\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html\",\"name\":\"This Is How It Happens\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-16T16:00:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-17T12:41:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"Russia's 'pro-family' lobby is working to decriminalize domestic violence -- and they're using arguments already common on the American Right.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/it-can-happen.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Is How It Happens\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. 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