Violence Against Women
Question 1
Describe the various kinds of backlash against surveys regarding violence against women. What
The same thing as experienced in the United States, Canada is currently facing the problem on backlash against survey concerning violence against women; the Canadian National Survey or CNS and the Canadian Violence Against Women Survey or VAWS . The issue on backlash contains backlash criticism and action, with four types of backlash against surveys; adopting sexual symmetry thesis and commenting, misinterpretations of survey data, releasing well placed lies, and intimidation and harassment.
“Women are just as bad as men” or “Women do it too,” common critiques heard in the society. Accordingly, the most representative backlash critic of this type is Patricia Pearson. On her article, it proves that women are equally bad as men. She added, no person, either male or female, deserve to wind up in the current of any violence. The misinterpretation of survey data, CTS has commented that the result of its advocates on the judgment that women are as violent as men are. The CTS take care of uncritically reports from respondents on violence, though several researches show that a man tends to under report and lessen the violence. Possibly, the most important problem issue with CTS is the manner that is used to create the case that man or husband abuse by woman or wife than woman or wife abuse by man or husband . In this manner, it is connected to the backlash against feminist analysis and feminism as developed. The antifeminists frequently create well-placed lies on social media to misguide the cognition of the people to the survey results; its doubt on the credibility of the data in CNS. The article affects the way of thinking of the readers as proved by the argumentative letter that DeKeseredy has received from readers itself. On the intimidation and harassment, feminist researchers frequently received anonymous phone calls, repulsive mails, and other forms of infused fears. With respect to the types of backlash, DeKeseredy countered the irrationality of each type and suggested some possible strategies to deal with it. He first suggested that to those people who really work hard to protect women from violence; it should develop relationship with reporters that are more progressive in particular, and report alternative beneficial interpretations of social disputes at hand . He encouraged many researchers and scholars in this particular field to take any further advantages on the effect of the advertisement done by media that confronts the antifeminists’ negative advertisements. In addition, DeKeseredy cited examples of some of the media coverage that are given to various prominent critics of feminist researches on violence, expressed his concern that the views provide assistance respectively. The article of Pearson has greatly influenced many people that much to do with the known effect of media. DeKeseredy second suggestion is to rise above the most. He added that to face the backlash of antifeminists researches should perform a combination of scientific goals and thorough commitments to create more contributions to the issue rather than to stop any research and debate with it . Action speaks louder than words; to perform something useful to achieve advocacy objectives has more important effect than any debate. The realization of every advocacy objective is more influential than any words. In addition, DeKeseredy has mentioned that feminist scholars should recognize the significance of social assistance. Through their apprehension, they can get much better energy and plenty of resources necessary to struggle with backlash. Consequently, they would get as more assistance as possible through building alliances, to let more people appreciate the significance of the prevention of violence against women with disability, or any barriers in the field of ethnicity and language, and to change the thoughts and actions accordingly.
Question 2
Dunn and Powell-Williams describe social problems work as when people “communicate about,
categorize, organize, argue, and persuade one another that social problems really do exist”
(982). Explain the social problems work and the concept of claims makers.
The particular process in which most ordinary person seeks to align things properly is a social problem work. Concrete examples of social problem in accordance to the images are produced by activists and other members in the society as a dynamic procedure . It happened every time people communicate with each other when they provided or received some concepts on social problems in particular that involved all people in the society as a whole. It implies that the process is when a person in the society pursues equality of recognition on social problems, the collective images being produced. In addition, people who created the images are the makers itself referring to activists and other members of the society. It is not the opinion of any specific person that represents instead the cognition of the organization on certain problems do. In the social problem work pattern, the makers created, influenced, and advertised people to set the collective images as references respectively. Image or typification is the core of the social problem work. Due to the image-creating role of claim makers, their cognition or conceptualization of social problems determine the images subsequently. It is not doubtful that the claim makers play a significant role in the social problem work. In the part of the violence against women, early images, or typifications of some battered women is the pure victim and helpless functioned in the present social problem work . The image or typification leads many battered women return to the past situation as they are deeply influenced through the stereotype, helpless battered women. The influenced of the stereotype and the long-term abuses create lack of courage and less strength to break away or escape from the past abuse experiences. The main key is simply the concept of claim makers on the violence against women and the victimization as well. More scholars and researchers noticed that in the creation of early stereotype of battered women, early claim makers regarded battered women frequently as pure victims instead of heroic survivors . In fact, the cognition on victimization has several restrictions. As thought particularly on victimization, it is argued that the typification of battered women as pure victim redirect the responsibility, assigned cause, specific responses, remedies, and accounts of failure . In addition, it neglects the agency quality of battered women; except the images of helpless victim, battered women have their free will. In the view of social problem, it is found that the agency and victimization are the qualities of social problems respectively. It suggests that a process of assistance and the empowerment of women in a gradual manner make her own decisions with her life, implications of practice, and given the time to move on as well. Consequently, the moment the early images or typifications of battered women are created through agency quality of battered women as taken into consideration; new knowledge on violence against women are known in particular. A deeper knowledge is acquired with the application of the social problem theory.
Works Cited
Barak, G. "Newsmaking criminology:Reflections on the media, intellectuals, and crime." Justice
Quarterly 5 (1998): 565-587.
DeKeseredy, W.S. "Tactics of the antifeminist backlash against Canadian national woman
abuse." Violence against Women 5 (1999): 1258-1276.
Dunn, J.L. and M. Powell-Williams. "Everybody makes choices: victim advocates and the
social." Violence against Women 13 (2007): 977-1000.
Holstein, J. A. and G. Miller. "Rethinking victimization: An interactional approach to." Social
problems in everyday life (1997): 25-47.
Levan, Andrea. "Violence Against Women." Women’s Studies, York University (1984): 1-174.
Pearson, Patricia. "Women Behaving Badly." Separated Parenting Access & Resource Center (1997): 1-7.
