Wp2

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.