When men kill the women they say they love
With the rash of recent murders, against women and children at the hands of those who profess to love them, one Columbia University Professor provides an important insight on domestic violence. We must stop allowing the media to report this deadly issue as a "private family matter."
Media coverage on the recent rash of men who kill their lovers, wives or ex-lovers has been misdirected, misguided and just plain wrong.
Cases making headlines of late include that of Jessie Davis and Bobby Cutts. Davis, who was nine months pregnant, was the white former mistress of Bobby Cutts, a black police officer now accused of the crime.
Then there is Kimberly Vaughn, whose husband, Christopher Vaughn, is facing charges of her murder as well as the murders of the couple's three children.
Most recently, professional wrestler Chris Benoit has been in the news for killing his wife, Nancy Benoit, and their young son before hanging himself.
While speculation around possible motives ranges from financial worries to steroid abuse and untreated psychosis, what is being left out of the coverage is the single most basic fact: Violence against women is not just about personal trials and tribulations. It is a systemic problem, with patterns and probabilities.
Why does the risk of abuse double for a woman once she becomes pregnant? Why, in nearly half of all abusive relationships, does the violence begin with a woman's first pregnancy?
If we're going to report these stories accurately, we need to begin with the near-universal problem of domestic violence. But so far, the media have failed to provide insight into the social patterns underlying the killing of women by men who say they loved them.
The stories of Jessie Davis, Kimberly Vaughn, Nancy Benoit and the five slain children desperately need to be told in context. They need to be framed — beyond personal, individualized circumstances — as stories about a particular kind of systematic violence that runs rampant throughout our culture and throughout other cultures around the world.
Talking heads are babbling on about adultery and steroids, when insightful conversations ought to begin with the systemic causes of violence against women.
Only if we start there can we hope to prevent such tragedies and transform a culture that hardly blinks at the news of men who kill.
Brent Zook is an associate adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
(McCLATCHY-Tribune)
If you are involved in an abusive relationship or you know someone who is, please get help. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence provides free and confidential numbers to legal services and shelters in your area. 1-800-877-7233 Website: www.ndvh.org
