Dangerous Politics

I'm giving up on an argument I'm having with some dudes. This past week, our Vice President appeared on The View, and it seems to have shaken some people up. His Violence Against Women Act is getting severely criticized by some men's groups. The act doesn't include anything about violence against men, and that has become an issue.

Violence against men is going to be tricky to prosecute. There are laws in place, and officials in place that have been unfair to men in some cases. In fact, in all of the abuse cases I have read, the law has been hugely unfair. But creating new legislation is going to be hard. Here are some reasons why:

1. Abuse against men is not cultural. It is not common. It is aberrant behavior that comes up in certain situations. It is not a thing we can yet pin down as being common within any one age group, any one community. 
2. The laws developed after a long struggle. The Women's Movement is still fighting upstream for the legislation that can protect them. If the Men's Movement wants to get equal protection, then it will have to fight its own battle. It won't be able to jump onto existing legislation. It has to be its own issue. 
3. The Men's Movement needs organization and leadership. And it needs a clear message. If the public detects one mote of anti-feminist or misogynist thought within the mission, it will never gain traction. 

I believe that legislation could be enacted upon the following:

1. Men are often falsely accused of abuse in divorce cases. It seems that a mere accusation can trigger an investigation. If the penalties for falsely accusing a spouse were tougher, then this might help. HOWEVER, if a law were to come about requiring a woman to show evidence of her abuse, or even rape, before making these accusations, then we won't be able to get anywhere.  Men need a kind of protection against these allegations, but it cannot be so binding that it lets ritual abusers go free, just because their partner does not have sufficient evidence. It's tricky!
2. When domestic violence is reported, the male is often arrested, no matter if he shows physical evidence or not. If police were to delay the arrest until they see cause, then both partners could be brought in for questioning, and no one would be arrested until a consensus could be reached by a team of caseworkers, police, etc. When the charges are wrongly levied upon a man, he has to fight it to the bitter end. 
3. Lawyers need to be overseen by law enforcement when a criminal accusation is made. The attorney needs to be held accountable if their client has made false statements. 

I'm not an attorney, so I'm kind of shooting in the dark, but this is all in response to frequent things I've read.

I discovered my own flexibility when it comes to the politics of abuse. I don't see any political party that is dealing with domestic abuse against men. So to villify feminists or their allies, that's a complete and utter waste of time. It's the wrong fight. Lawmakers on either side of the aisle need to be aware of the issues. I answer the complaints against Biden with a call to publicly share abuse stories. Get it out in the public dialogue. I believe that other anti-abuse groups have used this strategy, very successfully. Put a human face on it. I know the changes that came over me when I first read these stories. The same will happen to many people.