“Smith faces the fury of campaigner over battered wives ’spin’.”
Spin like pointing the fingre at video games and music which will do fuck all to stop domestic violence.
From the Daily Mail:
Smith faces the fury of campaigner over battered wives ’spin’
By James Slack
10th March 2009
Jacqui Smith was barracked by a women’s rights campaigner yesterday for using ’spin’ and ‘gimmicks’ over an initiative to reduce domestic violence.
Sandra Horley, chief executive of the charity Refuge, left the Home Secretary ashen-faced after her tirade against the ‘hypocritical’ Government.
Miss Smith was outlining plans for women to be informed if they start a relationship with a man who has a history of domestic violence.
Jacqui Smith, left, with psychologist Linda Papadopoulos, centre, and model Danielle Lloyd, right, at a consultation on domestic violence
But Miss Horley angrily denounced the initiative as ‘useless’ and insisted it would do nothing to keep women safe.
The clash came as a poll found many Britons have ‘unacceptable’ attitudes to domestic violence, with one in five saying a woman deserves to be hit for wearing revealing clothes in public.
In response to the problem, Miss Smith held a breakfast with women’s groups to outline plans for police to keep detailed records of men with a history of abuse.
Women would then be informed if they begin having a relationship with such a man, she told the event in Westminster.
But Miss Horley greeted the initiative with derision. ‘We have had enough talking - we need action,’ she said. ‘As for the perpetrators’ register, it is a gimmick and doesn’t address the root problem.
‘The majority of violent men don’t come to the attention of police and it won’t keep women safe. Police can’t be expected to monitor relationships and love lives of offenders.’
She added: ‘The Government is hoping to get away with useless initiatives like this register and it is hypocritical to sound tough and do little.’
Miss Smith tried to interrupt but was shouted down before Solicitor General Vera Baird stepped in to argue the Government’s case.
A consultation document published by Miss Smith yesterday suggested a range of other ideas to reduce domestic and sexual violence.
The Home Secretary issued a warning to companies making clothes and other products which sexualise young girls and said she wanted to challenge attitudes to violence in video games and music.
‘I’m not directly telling manufacturers what they should or shouldn’t do but if, as many people believe, these products are not acceptable for young girls, manufacturers should read the writing on the wall and take notice,’ she said.
Brian Moore, lead officer for domestic violence at the Association of Chief Police Officers, is to review the powers available to officers to tackle serial offenders.
He will look at ‘go-orders’ which courts could impose on violent partners to force them to stay away from the homes of their victims.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘My big worry about all of this is that the obvious danger of imposing more processes on the police is that they will end up spending yet more time filling in forms than actually tackling the problem of domestic violence in our communities.’
The poll on public attitudes to the problem made disturbing reading. Released by the Home Office, it found one in five people approved of men slapping wives or girlfriends for wearing revealing clothes in public.
Almost one in seven said women who nagged their husbands deserved to be hit. One in ten said it was a woman’s fault that she was sexually or violently assaulted if she flirted beforehand.
More than a third said female rape victims who were drunk were at least partially responsible for the attack, the survey by Mori found.
Miss Smith said: ‘Violence against women and girls is unacceptable in any form, no matter what the circumstances are.’
“The Home Secretary issued a warning to companies making clothes and other products which sexualise young girls and said she wanted to challenge attitudes to violence in video games and music.”
But what has this got to do with reducing sexual assault and domestic violence?
The coded message is that we can blame clothes manufacturers and violence in video games and music for sexual assault and domestic violence.
The Mirror newspaper reported yesterday that 1 in 5 adults think it’s acceptable for a man to hit a woman if she is wearing revealing clothing.
Their “Voice Of The Mirror” section said that too many films, video games and music videos show women as “sex objects”.
In other words films, video games and music videos that show scantily clad women are to blame for men hitting women for wearing revealing clothes.
But surely men who like to watch films and music videos featuring women wearing scantily clad outfits would have no problem and would even be turned on by their wife or girlfriend wearing revealing clothing and not want to hit her!
By attempting to proportion some blame on the entertainments industries for domestic violence and sexual assault the government and the tabloid media show they have very little actual soloutions to tackle such serious issues other than spin and gimmicks!
