Michèle Binswanger on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in the Tages-Anzeiger
In the event of a conflict, men are sometimes unfairly stigmatized as perpetrators!
In the past four weeks, five women in Switzerland have become murderers. In Aldiswil, a woman strangled her partner. Another cut a man's throat . In Schwyz a woman stabs her mother's partner, in Schwamendingen a policewoman shoots her partner.
It is one of the laws of the attention economy that murderous women generate a lot of attention, because they contradict the cliché of women as peace-loving life-givers who at most fall victim to the aggression of others. These crimes may have increased by chance, but they show that the willingness to use violence among the weaker sex is increasing sharply, which is also confirmed by crime statistics. In 2006, twice as many women were reported for assault than in 2002. More and more often, not only boys but also girls are fighting on the playgrounds. And experts assume that when it comes to domestic violence, women now attack just as often as men . But are these brutal Brünhildes actually a consequence of feminism, as “Blick” assumes, for example? Or is that the wrong question?
It can be assumed that murderous women will remain a marginal phenomenon in the future - female aggression, especially in relationships, is certainly not. Particularly in conflict-ridden partnerships, their more subtle, psychological forms often come into play, which of course can hardly be proven. And so feminism has actually shifted the situation in favor of women - with men losing out. At least this is the theory put forward by criminologist Michael Bock . Today, he says, women have a monopoly on victim status and dominate the discussion, especially around domestic violence, on both the ideological and institutional levels. As a result, men are severely disadvantaged when it comes to victim protection. Not only do men quickly lose face because of our role models when they present themselves as victims of female violence, in many cases - and especially when it comes to custody disputes, they are also not believed. In the event of a conflict, men would be unfairly stigmatized as perpetrators from the outset, while women, on the other hand, would immediately have the legal tools in their hands to expropriate and get rid of “disturbing” partners.
Bock's theses are provocative, especially since he accuses the women's networks of collusion and nepotism. This may be a bit short-sighted - but his call for a closer look at how society deals with domestic violence is justified. The role of women in conflictual relationships should not be ignored and the first duty should be to approach the shared history of such a relationship without ideological blinders .
What do you mean? Is our society blind in one eye when it comes to domestic violence? Or is the problem of violent women, in contrast to men's violence, so marginal that it can also be accepted that individual men are treated unfairly?