New Calls To Renew The Violence Against Women Act
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act is one of her top priorities for the new year. The law provides police and other groups with money to help fight domestic violence and sexual assault. It’s been reauthorized every five years since it was first passed in 1994, but not last year. House Republicans objected to modifications which allowed for protections for gays and lesbians, Native Americans and immigrants. Please join us to discuss domestic violence, sexual assault and prospects for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Guests
Democrat, U.S. Representative for Colorado's 1st Congressional District, serving since 1997, and a Chief Deputy Whip. The district is based in Denver.
founder and president, Eagle Forum
president, National Organization for Women.
National Network to End Domestic Violence
senior correspondent covering foreign policy for Bloomberg News.
reporter, New York Times

Comments
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Although women have suffered rape throughout history, and there was no media thousands of years ago to document the cultural situation which may have affected the incidence of rape, today's culture is key to understanding rape today.
Many forms of modern media are crude, base and coarse - they objectify women and sex. And, the media is so pervasive, especially to youth who are just forming attitudes about life. Can anyone argue that pornography (often violent) does not foster attitudes that cause more rape and misogyny?
Are today's youth taught right from wrong, especially in the sexual realm? Not much. Is anyone taught that every person has dignity and is to be respected, just as we want respect for ourselves? I guess that would "smack" too much of old-fashioned religion - therefore it is rejected by modernism.
It's really amusing to listen to liberals hand wringing over the problems they cause, the broken family. The root cause of all social problems.
Why did the DR Show start giving Phyllis Schlaffley a platform last Fall? Why are her extreme violence-against-women-doesn't-exist views relevant to this discussion? Is she a friend or neighbor of someone connected to this program? Next you'll conduct a discussion on "Helter Skelter" and invite Charles Manson on your show.
Here are two problems that you are not adressing:
1. The rising number of false rape charges by women who later admit lying. Such a charge ruins a man's life in more than the obvious ways. Ever after many still think he did it but got her to recant. In many states even when the charges are proven false the man still is listed as a sex offender.
2. The use of "restraining orders" by angry (or devious) women against their husbands. I have personally been a victim of this tactic when a woman decides she wants a divorce and wants to get an advantage. There is no protection for the men at all. Even if the man goes into court and gets the order recinded it is still on his record forever, and can cause problems in security clearance and other jobs.
How about some real protection for men in all this?????
Diane & guests, with our WA$TE in DC, every bill needs to be reviewed. Some agencies need to be consolidated to save money.
I taught 38 years at a girls’ school and obviously support anything that give women aid.
Your first guest seemed somewhat dismissive of the very serious epidemic of violence against women that affects this country. When you brought up the recent Indian rape and murder case your guest claimed things like that don't happen to American women - didn't things almost EXACTLY like that happen to Catherine Fuller in 1985 right here in Washington, DC?! I realize that happened over 20 years ago but if we're discussing whether or not we need the Violence Against Women Act let's think about how bad things were for American women, and how bad they clearly still are and how bad they could be if we ignore the very serious problem of violence against women in the United States.
Last night a woman with four children was shot repeatedly in her head and chest by her husband right here on our campus. I don't find that amusing at all. Families are often broken by violent spouses, usually men. How are liberals responsible for that violence?
Last night a woman with four children was shot repeatedly in her head and chest by her husband right here on our campus. I don't find that amusing at all. Families are often broken by violent spouses, usually men. How are liberals responsible for that violence?
Last night a woman with four children was shot repeatedly in her head and chest by her husband right here on our campus. I don't find that amusing at all. Families are often broken by violent spouses, usually men. How are liberals responsible for that violence?
Unfortunately I was in a abusive relationship, but as soon as it started, for me the relationship was over. I took my 2 kids and moved out! I started a new life with my kids and have been happy ever since. Women should NEVER stay in such a relationship, because the "I'm sorry" thing just doesn't work. Men who are abusive once they will repeat themselves.
yes, Kris - the broken family is another root cause as much as lack of morality.
But I often wonder if the decline of our culture is inevitable, as the study of history has shown happens to every other "great civilization". America has so much in common with ancient Rome.
Any law that treats women and men differently is sexist, period. Any law that treats different races differently is racist, period. If you are against sexism and racism these types of laws should cause you to be sick. Call it an anti-violence act and treat all persons the same under the law and you have something people will get behind, why would you not want that anyway?
It is disturbing how effective the lefts demonizing the GOP is on issues like this. Get in the way of superfluous feel good legislation and some how your evil. Rome is a perfect comparison to the U.S. in 2013, as in Rome the decadence of the people are the cause of the inevitable downfall.
I found this, thanks for the inspiration.
What the Last Roman Emperor Would Tell President Obama Today
Lessons in history from Romulus Augustus still resonate today
"But, ask yourself why your citizens no longer vote for the candidates who can bring about the best future. Try to deny that they now vote for those candidates least likely to interfere with their handouts."
http://investorplace.com/2012/08/what-the-last-roman-emperor-would-tell-...
Dear Phyllis Schlafly,
A. The definition of a feminist is a person (male or female), that believes that women should have EQUAL political, economic and social rights. It does not mean man hater. Look it up.
B. "Women accounted for 85% of the victims of intimate partner violence, men for approximately 15%."
(Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003) Look it up.
C. Feminists and anyone looking to work against domestic violence are not trying to dissolve the institution of marriage or hate on men, they are attempting to save lives. It's ironic to me that you hate and blame women that you believe hate and blame men. I have news for you Phyllis. You are a woman. Do you hate yourself?
I am 60 yeats old and was raped and/or molested by various individuals until age 12. Not one of these individuals was a woman. Violence against women and girls has been out of control for decades if not centuries. These acts of violence against me greatly impacted my life negatively in ways I don't even know the extent of.
I'm happy to see any laws that will curb this violence and allow the victims to seek and recieve the needed help. It seemed, in my young lifetime, my only recourse was to wish these individuals a speedy death.
I will be very succinct in what I have to say.
1. The rape and eventual death of the Indian girl is a tragedy that should not happen to anyone, anywhere in the world.
2. Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum), while fighting for women's rights, seems to have forgotten to do her homework. This will be highlighted in the following points.
3. Indians, especially the majority Hindus, do not treat women as second class citizens.
4. India has had a woman Prime Minister, as well as a woman President. It is hard to think that this is possible if majority of Indians thought of women as just child bearers and homemakers/housewives.
5. Indians believe in common sense, not theoretical goals. The majority of Indians (read: Hindus) have Gods and Goddesses, perched equally, unlike other religions where there is no recognition or respect to the female human being or the female superpower.
6. This also means that women are not treated "Fragile/handle with care". They are expected to stand up for themselves, and those that do, are rewarded honestly in their lives as a person be it as a mother, daughter, sister, wife, and even as a professional.
7. The problem that Phyllis Schlafly believes is present in India is relegated to illiterate communities and in small pockets within that too. She should not generalize and paint a sorry picture of India with a broad brush.
I am utterly APPALLED at Phyllis Schlafly's comments on the show. Her view that women are to blame for violence against them because they leave their husbands is barbaric and archaic at BEST. I can't even begin to understand how you decided that her medieval opinions would serve the conversation.
There are other people who can voice an opposing opinion without taking us back to the dark ages. Please. For the women out here who do actually have brains AND use them, please, please NEVER give her vitriol a platform again.
AMEN!! She has such a closed-minded crusade that "facts" are irrelevant. I can't believe ANYONE would listen to her.
This woman Phyllis on the DR show is very misinformed and on the fringe. I can't believe she was given so much air time without someone responding in real time to her ridiculous claims that VAW is really only about sex-selective abortions and that we need to be more worried about discriminating against men in legislation. What?! There are no words for how foolish this woman is. Please, if you put her on again, at least set her straight with some facts, though, I assume she'd just claim they are inflated by the crazy liberal media.
"mnemecek wrote:
Any law that treats women and men differently is sexist, period. Any law that treats different races differently is racist, period. If you are against sexism and racism these types of laws should cause you to be sick. Call it an anti-violence act and treat all persons the same under the law and you have something people will get behind, why would you not want that anyway?
January 9, 2013 - 11:00 am"
Look at the differences in the conditions under which Women are imprisoned compared to those for Men.
And notice that the subject of Prison Rape was not raised. The object of so much levity and open admission by the Media, Courts and other institution that such conditions are perfectly OK and accepted as part of "Rehabilitation" and disincentives.
"If you don't want your _____ torn apart, pay your Child Support and Alimony, you miserable Rat"!!!
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Wouldn`t it be nice if there were no sexism? But wait,our Supreme Court always denies women their rights. The last major case was the women in the class action against Walmart. The court denied the women their right to sue for equal pay for equal work.... I` don`t recall any women bursting into a restaurant and gunning down their family,as happened here in the Cracker Barrel restaurant near Cleveland . I don`t recall any women going postal and blasting their co-workers. It`s the NRA blocking any data base be created for these violent men,when they are CC`s holders and wife beaters.
I was one of the callers on the show. I was able to show how these groups lie about domestic violence. (NOW and NNEDV) These feminist and domestic violence groups couldn't care less about men being abused. They first claim that women are the vast majority of victims of DV. Then I quoted from the CDC report that shows men make up 53% of the victims of physical violence and 42% of the victims of severe domestic violence. And that while 1 in 3 women are victims of DV, rape and stalking, 1 in 4 men are as well. I asked if men are about half the victims, why not a penny goes towards reducing violence by women against men. As they were going to break Paulette made a statement about the perpetrators being men. That's an outright lie. Period. Page 3 of the CDC shows that , while yes rape and stalking are done by a majority of males, domestic violence is predominantly perpetrated by females when men are victims. They will do anything not to help male victims of DV including outright lying. These groups claim gender neutral laws, but they are anything but that. Literally, not one penny goes towards reducing violence by women.
aughinea So I guess the fact that about half of the victims of DV are men and the fact that not one penny of VAWA is spent on reducing violence by women against men, we should not worry about that. Why? Because men are worth less than women? It's ok to discriminate against men in legislation is what you are saying. Shame on you. I guess that man that was stabbed 27 times, cut and shot shouldn't matter then. After all it's just a male. And I guess that when men call for help they are the ones arrested is ok with you too.
Dear Producers,
About Phyllis Schlafly: you don't have to invite a deluded extremist on to your show in order to appear fair; it only displays your own poor judgment. I think today's show was a debacle: not only did Diane Rehm give Phyllis Schlafly a platform (yet again!), she actually let Schlafly's lies about violence against women slide, and even agreed that the title "Violence against Women Act" might be "discriminatory." Schlafly stated that 50% of domestic violence cases involve women as the perpetrators. That did not raise your eyebrows? Rehm ought to have posed MUCH better follow-up questions— she can be very skeptical of her guests when she wants to be. And you all ought to have done your homework: in finding better guests, in researching violence against women statistics so that Schlafly's falsehoods were not allowed to pass simply as one equivalent "perspective." And just by the way, the law is called "Violence against Women Act" because it IS a specific kind of violence that overwhelmingly involves women victims, and yes, it IS a kind of violence overwhelmingly perpetrated by men: men more frequently have used weapons, stalked, raped, and beaten women than the other way around. As for Schlafly's frequent insults of feminists: would you allow a guest to get away with such name-calling and falsehoods about other groups? It does not make you look balanced when you allow guests to slander feminists; it just shows your own poor knowledge of feminism, and your really poor reflexes.
"The broken family?" That is no fault of any one category. WAY TOO EASY to blame liberals.
Try this on for size. Our entire economic, religious, political systems depend on one thing, the ideology that humans rule, and other species are "here for humans to dominate."
We've spent the last ten thousand years forcing female animals to be bred( raped ) and stolen HER young for our benefit. We humans have stolen from the animals, their motherhood, babies, habitats, families, ability to LIVE FREE from harm, as our economic foundation is theft of nature(resources).
Read The World Peace Diet, by Dr. Will Tuttle, or Eternal Treblinka, Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust.
The power humans have taken over other beings, began the power we took/take, over each other.
Now, the karma has come home. Sound far fetched, to "Out there" for most to grapple with?
The use of force is abuse of power, regardless of who is the victim.
We brake up mother cow families by dragging her calves from her, at great agony to both. We brake up mommy pig families by forcing the mothers to live in horrific conditions, raped repeatedly, and her babies are taken from her, banished to the factory farm, "nursery," until we brutally butcher them for meat that makes us ILL.
The day of reckoning has arrived for our abhorrent, unconscionable treatment of sentient beings. When we stop tearing their families apart, our behavior will right itself and we can manifest what it means to be "civilized."
As we sow, so shall we reap," or in the case of what we've done to billions of female cows, pigs, etc... RAPE!
ashwinitambe wrote: I can't stand to be disagreed with.
Laura Beth wrote: "The broken family?" That is no fault of any one category. WAY TOO EASY to blame liberals."
Better check the stats after the implementation of LBJ's "great society" programs.
jodidclement
Your stats are a lie. Paulette even confirmed my quoted stats when I called the show- 1 in 3 women are raped, stalked or a victim of DV in their lifetimes. Men are 1 in 4 (though even closer to 1 in 3 as the CDC study doesn't count men being forced to penetrate someone as rape believe it or not). Victims of physical violence are 53% men. Victims of the most severe domestic violence (stabbing, burning, hit with objects..) are 42% men. Your stat is based on phone calls and police reports. If men report DV VAWA ensures that over 50% of the time he is the one arrested even if he is the victim. Would you call for help? 80% of men are turned away if they call a DV agency yet that fact went unmentioned. Only gay/lesbians being turned away counts. Feminists and the DV groups don't hate men? Ok, then why did Paulette outright lie and claim men are the perpetrators of DV against men. It's an outright lie. The CDC study states women are. If there isn't a man-hating aspect- why is no money spent for reducing violence by women? Why are men excluded from protections women get? Why do these groups advocate that women who falsely accuse men of DV and rape not be prosecuted? Why do they fight changes in alimony/child support laws? Why do they push for laws that remove due process of men? Why do they deny parental alienation exists and claim men's rights groups made it up? Why do they only always quote one-sided stats about DV only highlighting female victims like on today's show? Why did they make sure only women get free well-care visits and not men? Why do they claim false accusations of DV in divorce isn't an issue when it's an epidemic? It destroys families and children more than anything else. You can quote the definition of feminism all you want. Why have they argued against helping boys in education now that they are doing poorly? Gender equality is the not what they care about. Vilifying men and boys at every opportunity is.
Please don't waste time talking to Phyllis Schlafly about anything. She is a total waste of time.
We DON'T need a law which makes women a better class of person than men. We have sufficient laws on the books to prosecute ANYONE guilty of the SAME crimes covered under VAWA. This law is redundant and redonkulous and only amplifies that women are not being held to the same standards and legal requirements as men. The fact also remains that the statistics relied upon for VAWA are profoundly wrong and not based on legitimate academic peer reviewed studies and actual statistical data.
Especially when according to The National Council of Single Mothers and their Children
http://www.ncsmc.org.au/wsas/violence_and_abuse/definition_of_domestic_v... is Domestic Violence?
Under the heading What is Domestic Violence?
•father commits suicide
•report you to welfare agencies unless you comply with his demands regarding bringing up the children.
• Refused to do housework or child care
Financial Abuse:
• prevents you from having access to money.
This above is ludicrous. Women perpetrate just as much violence as men. But they aren't held to same standard of accountability as men. If you are truly equal, act like it. Be responsible like it. Don't make false accusations and diminish your credility any further. Use real data and statistics from legitimate academia which is peer reviewed, by someone besides militant feminists and angry single mommies.