Explained Perceptions
Although domestic violence itself is a very
broad topic, it’s also a very serious matter in today’s world. The first
thought that typically comes to mind when discussing this topic is, why would
that guy do such a thing. But what
people sometimes don’t realize is that domestic actions/violence can come from
both males and female. In fact, “according to a 2010 national survey by the
Centers for Disease Control and Department of Justice, in the last 12 months
more men than women were victims of intimate partner physical violence and over
40% of severe physical violence was directed at men”. No matter what the gender
is this topic should be looked at very seriously. What the reader will soon see
is how two writers with two different background speak on the same topic with
two different perceptions.
People
share so many different opinions on this topic, but one in specific is a writer
named Gina Loudon. Regarding the Ray Rice case, Gina states in her piece “Have
You Thanked a Feminist for Your Abuse” If women are equal to men as feminist say
they are then why didn’t they scream protest in Ray Rice’s punishment. She continues
her argument by asking if women are in fact equal to men, then how can
they(feminist) argue that a women beaten by her now husband deserves special protection.
She’s arguing that since feminist {the advocacy of women’s right on the grounds
of political, social, and economic equality to men} believe that women are equal
to men then why should the wife that in this case the victim have special
protection in not only this case, but period. She views this as feminist are
being hypocrites. Although she believes a man should never lay his hand on a
woman which, she could be a little bias saying that because it is coming from a
woman. She also gives you both sides of the spectrum by including although one
in four women will likely be assaulted by a partner in her lifetime, the numbers
of men assaulted in relationships is estimated by some experts to be about equal
to that of women. She believes that old-school feminist is more convincing or
believable than this generation’s feminist. Gina touched on this very broad topic
nicely by including her opinion but also stating some facts in there. She did
receive some harsh comments that didn’t necessarily agree with her article. All
in all, her purpose was to persuade to reader that feminist are hypocrites when
addressing the Ray Rice case.
A
senior research analyst at People for the American Way named Brian Tashman,
reacted to Gina’s article. He reacted on the article by writing an article of
his own. Tashman starts the article off by citing where the other reader source
is coming from and then states what Gina is arguing. Then he quickly discredits Loudon and says, “she does
not have any evidence that feminist is somehow linked to abuse”. He also says,
she believes no “intellectually honest” {means
you make arguments you think are true, as opposed to making the arguments you
are “supposed” to make and/or avoiding making arguments that you think are true
that you aren't “supposed” to make} person
could not disagree with her analysis. One thing these two writers do agree on
is that feminist are very hypocritical. Brian’s purpose for this article is to
point out to the reader that he agrees that feminist are hypocrites when it
comes to domestic violence and in this case the Ray Rice case. What he does not
agree with is Gina Loudon’s attempt to blame to blame all feminist for all
domestic abuse, specifically the Ray Rice case. Both Brian Tashman and Gina
Loudon’s ethos may be supported by their PHD etc. They both view this topic in
two different ways and from two genders, which is actually the only way feminism
should be discussed.
Reading both of these articles gave
me a lot of insite on feminism for one and also what effect feminist have on
domestic violence. They used so many moves
in both of these two articles. What these two articles may have done is
touch some of the female’s viewers is a very uncomfortable way because they may
feel less of a person. To reiterate what was said above feminism is the advocacy of women’s right on the grounds
of political, social, and economic equality to men. Which means feminist who
goal was to fight for women equality to men and in this situation (Ray Rice
controversy) in some way puts them in a tough spot as women and for their
image. As far as Brian’s view point I considered him as pro-feminist, refers to support of
the cause of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of
the feminist movement. Because although he believed they were hypocrites,
he also acknowledged that the whole feminism movement was courageous move by “old
feminism”. (Brian) To conclude, although both parties that decised to tackle
this argument had very insightful information to convinced the reader that on
topic can be agreed or disagreed on as as long as evidence backs both arguments up.
