Foxy,

Of course domestic violence is not confined to any one group but which other significant group, other than Muslims, has wife beating enshrined in their religion and approved by their founder?

Dear Is Mise,

The Bible clearly states that a man has the authority to
discipline his wife (GEN 3:16).

The religious "Holy books" should be looked at in
context to the times in which they were written.

Naomi Graetz tells us that wife-beating is found in
all cultures, because women's status is usually lower
then men's and wives are expected to perform specific
tasks to serve their husbands.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wifebeating-in-jewish-tradition

Dear Foxy,

And Genesis was written, what ? 2,500 years ago ? And what proportion of Jewish men, do you think, follow that 2,500-year-old verse to the letter ? Or is it one of the verses that, as you say, may be relevant to their times, but not now, which very few Jewish men would even think of applying ?

Yes, I suppose DV occurs in all sections of society, but to mis-quote George Orwell, the equality of incidences of DV in some section is more 'equal' than others. Perhaps there are men in Mosman or Toorak or Springfield who beat the daylights out of their partners, BUT I would suggest that DV may occur more frequently, more habitually, in remote Aboriginal settlements: perhaps 90 % of women there may have to put up with such treatment, since after all, the men rule. And why do they commit DV ? Because they can.

Do current Jewish injunctions advise that DV is permitted ? Do current Islamic injunctions similarly advise that DV is permitted, as long as the marks are not visible ? What may be the comparative rates of DV in those populations ?

DV may be permitted according to some perverted body of religious injunctions, but it absolutely should not be permitted, certainly not on those grounds, in Australia.

Love,

Joe

Come on Foxy

To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth,and in pain you will bring forth children;your desire will be for your husband,and he will rule over you Gen 3:16

How about quoting the new testament in context

'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, Eph 5:25'

I thought you were trying to represent accurately rather misquote to suite your narrative

//I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth,and in pain you will bring forth children;//

Because you ate a bit of fruit you were told not to eat.

Since the first people walked on this Earth, God has punished women with agonising pain and frequently death because one woman aeons ago ate a bit of fruit she was told not to eat.

Talk about violent and controlling behaviour. If a man beat his wife to death because she ate the orange he'd been saving for his lunch tomorrow, we'd all be shocked and outraged. But when god makes a woman haemorrhage to death after a painful labour because her many-times-great-grandmother ate an orange which he'd declared off-limits, he's somehow a good guy?

Christian ethics. Go figure.

Hi Toni,

That's 'culture' for you: the sanctioning of power structures, which historically have been controlled by men.

Hence so many cautionary stories, folk tales, legends, fairy tales, etc. which caution women to behave themselves, obey the rules, stay home, don't talk to strangers, etc.

As for Eve and Adam, Zygmunt Bauman has a wonderful article somewhere in which he compares the human response of Adam and Eve to being dictated to, with the commandments handed down to Moses, and comes down on Eve and Adam's side - in 'Theory, Culture and Society,' 1998, in which he compares 'morality as the necessity to make choices and assume responsibility and morality as conformity to a rule set by a supreme power.' I suppose 'free will', and its obligations to make choices, versus 'obedience' and not having to choose: individuality versus mass conformity. Brilliant writer.

In these senses, culture is so often the enemy of women's rights, particularly in backward and conservative societies. Probably some genuine feminist - if any exist - has studied this, and related it to DV in contemporary societies. Christ, I hope so.

Joe