In the West, we are sometimes advised horrible tales about girls within the Global South nations being subjected to male violence after which punished afresh by “community leaders” and the courts.
Most feminists in Europe and the US, for instance, would know that premarital intercourse is criminalised in Saudi Arabia and that hospitals and well being centres are compelled to report the pregnancies of single girls to police – together with these ensuing from rape. They would additionally find out about “honour killings” of ladies and ladies in nations like Albania and Kurdistan for breaking patriarchal guidelines, akin to having sexual relationships exterior of marriage.
Some who decry such abuses and atrocities within the Global South, nevertheless, seem to not bear in mind that any such sexist sufferer blaming just isn’t confined to the Global South; it additionally occurs within the Global North. So-called “honour killings” additionally occur within the UK, for instance, inside each conservative spiritual communities and secular ones.
I’ve lengthy been working to lift consciousness on this situation and forestall it taking place to girls in my house nation, the United Kingdom. In 1990, I co-founded Justice for Women in response to the tough remedy meted out to girls who defended themselves in opposition to rape or sexual violence – by the legal justice system, the media, and wider society. I had seen a number of instances of males killing their wives for spurious causes, and strolling free from court docket. Excuses akin to “She nagged me”, or “I found her in bed with another man” have been accepted by judges and jurors as cheap grounds for males to “snap” and kill girls. Meanwhile, girls who have been pushed to kill or maim their male companions after years of violence, typically in worry for his or her lives or these of their youngsters, have been handled as cold-blooded murderers and punished as such by British courts, focused by the media, and shunned by society.
We have undoubtedly made some progress in shedding mild on the problem prior to now three a long time, however the criminalisation of survivors of male violence within the UK, by the courts in addition to society at massive, is way from over.
Today, not less than 57 p.c of ladies in jail within the UK are survivors of home abuse, and for a lot of of them, this abuse is straight linked to the explanation for his or her incarceration (whereas, usually, their abusers stay free). The true quantity is probably going considerably larger as a result of many select to not disclose their sufferer standing, even when it may assist clarify the motivations behind the crimes they’re accused of. Despite this, legal justice companies hardly ever acknowledge {that a} lady has been a sufferer of male violence, and deal with this as a mitigating issue, when prosecuting her for a associated offence (together with defending herself in opposition to the perpetrator).
Examples of such re-victimisation and criminalisation of survivors of male violence by British courts are throughout us.
A movie by the UK-based Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), titled Stop Criminalising Survivors, launched earlier this month tells the tales of 5 such girls, convicted of offences starting from perverting the course of justice to homicide, all on account of the abuse they endured by the hands of a male accomplice. CWJ hopes the movie will assist educate legal justice companies and ladies’s help providers on the explanations feminine victims of male violence find yourself in jail.
One of the ladies featured within the CWJ movie is Farieissia Martin who, aged 22 and with two babies, killed her extraordinarily violent accomplice, Kyle Farrell. Farrell had raped her repeatedly, and she or he had undergone a number of abortions in consequence. Family and mates had recurrently seen her face coated in bruises. The evening she killed him, he had given her one other beating, convincing Farieissia that if she didn’t do one thing, she was going to die at his arms. Having entry to all this info, and realizing nicely that she acted in self-defence, the courts nonetheless convicted her of homicide. Farieissia served seven years in jail earlier than efficiently interesting her conviction. The solely motive she was capable of overturn her conviction was that she was represented at attraction by feminist attorneys outfitted with an in-depth understanding of the consequences of home violence.
These days feminists are routinely blamed for exaggerating male violence, making girls “scared of men”, and inflicting them to restrict their lives by taking precautions. Meanwhile, girls are blamed for being raped (“she was drinking/flirting/wearing revealing clothing”) or struggling home abuse (“she wound him up/enjoyed the drama”). Girls are blamed, and shamed, for being abused into prostitution. This sufferer blaming, nonetheless prevalent in most societies, reaches its final type when girls are punished and despatched to jail for being victimised or defending themselves in opposition to their abusers.
When we’re blamed for what males do to us, we get a double dose of punishment – whereas our male abusers are handed free rein. This occurs routinely within the Global South, but it surely occurs within the North too.
Lesbians in South Africa expertise horrors like “punishment rape” for daring to reject males, however so do girls within the UK. It is true that girls are killed in Iran for supposed missteps like talking to a person exterior the household, however so do girls within the UK – one lady is killed by a person recognized to her each three days in England and Wales.
Men’s violence in direction of girls and ladies is international, and wherever it happens, the blame is commonly diverted onto the victims. It is essential that we communicate of the rapist greater than we do of the raped, and of the batterer fairly than the battered. Let’s place the blame firmly on the responsible, and guarantee we by no means, ever, look to the actions of the victims in an try and justify such atrocities in opposition to girls. Women ought to by no means be criminalised and punished, wherever, for being subjected to male violence or defending themselves in opposition to it.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/22/criminalisation-of-victims-of-male-violence-needs-to-end-everywhere?traffic_source=rss
