In my city in the US day after day the most horrific stories emerge of things happening to women (mostly BLACK women). The one's that disturb me the most are the ones relating to what happens to these women's children, and them, at the hands of a live-in lover. Quite often he is one of the children's father, or maybe not.

Day before yesterday a woman and her 3 year old went missing. They lucked up on the child hog tied and left in the woods. The child was covered with insect and snake bites, and there were wolves and gators nearby., but he was alive. He is now being treated at a local hospital. Arrested in the case, was live in baby father who is NOT talking.

The next day, they find the mother's body 4 miles away, murdered.

The family had called authorities on many occassions about the father, but no legal action was taken.

In another case...a Uncle fresh out of jail killed his brother, his girlfiend, a visitng friend, his girlfriend, and 3 of the six children in the home....cause.... his brother challenged him over a stolen leather jacket.

I have no answers, only questions.....why black people....why????

Oh yeah, I forgot the worst one from last month. Father is having an affair with his own daughter. Mother confronts him, he kills mother and chops off all of her limbs, and makes his little daughter HELP him do it. He's in jail, she's in the psych ward.

Those are absolutely disgusting stories.

They are indeed....all true... and as I go to get the morning paper after I type this, there more than likely is another....

Once these men are identified, it usually comes out that they had some kind of horrifc background. I don't know whether the sisters knew this ahead of time, didn't do their homework, or just down right do not care as "long as they have a man." Whatever the case, it seems like women and their kids are disposable commodities here.

its a shame really.....i think its because its percieved that women are the weaker species and children innocent.whats worse is that the authorities always take action when its already too late,
i watched today's morning news and saw a case in austria where a father locked his kids in the cellar since they were born,the oldest was 18 years and has never seen the sun,and commited incest with them.

this cases dont apply to blacks only.its everywhere,women and children suffer in the hands of their fathers and spouses,its a damn shame.

every sunday the priest tells us the signs of the end are here...am starting to believe him.civilisation as we know it- is coming to an end.

Violence against women has exasperated all over the world because men KNOW that they can get away with it. I mean here in the UK, a rapist gets a pathetic 6 years ONLY in jail and he will only serve half of that.

Women have goten too complacent about these kind of issues because we believe we have somehow arrived and the world is somehow fair and equal. But the reality is that our plights or many issues affecting us are always the last ones to be discussed in politics.

This does not surprise me much though....women nowadays are preocupied with the most pathetic and mundane of things. We think because there some female faces on boards of a few companies or can brag about our sex lives without being stoned, hence we are free and cared for by society. Well, untill women starts taking politics seriously, participate and voice our needs and wants, then we will continue to see more of these henious crimes against women......the laws in place are simply NOT working to deter these men, most of these men who committs crimes against women are repeated offenders who know how to bend the laws to work in their favours because of the flows in the systems.

Me think we need to re-evaluate our notion of independence and what it means for us.

To use a now popular title, maybe THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH IS:

That a significant minority of women have to take a long hard look at themselves and question their part in the objectification of women and the wider effects of what their actions have on the young and other women... In terms of culture we call out AFRICANS who sell out and degrade our culture where is that reciprocal approach within a female perspective?


Unless a significant minority of women step up and demonstrate some real leadership and challenge this current culture that appears to demand that women are defined a) by a man, b) if you got a man & c) how far one can skin out to get a man.. then i suspect this apparent increase in male violence will not abate...

Very interesting comments thank you for the replies.

Violence against women perpetuated by Husbands, Partners, Fathers or Family isn't new and occurs across races and class.

However compared to historically it is far less frequent.

It is only just over a hundred years ago here in the UK (and I believe the whole of the west) that it was legal for a man to sell his wife, (or daughter) beat her to death (on the ground that she had some how offeded or disobeyed him) Or if he no longer had need for her, place her in a mental institution -actually this practice continued right up untill the 1960's.

Here in the UK all of this is forgotten when incidences of so called 'cultural retribution' occur...that is within the Asian community.

As for women not doing their 'homework'

Do all of these men show signs of what they are capable of? And what are these signs women should be looking for.

In extreme cases there is often no hints, the man may have been all niceness and just snapped one day.

It is interesting that we tend to blame the victim for the crime commited against them by another when the victim is a woman.

I completely agree. And I think the bolded part is definetly one of the reasons why many women don't start running for the hills the minute that their man starts being abusive to them. Despite our so called independence we still continue to be judged and valued based on whether or not we've got a man. And instead of challenging these views, often times, the people who are defining women by these standards are other women. We have a long way to go as many people have yet to shed the image of the single woman as a pathetic, lonely, pititful spinster.