Who let the pigs out? oink, oink

Couldn’t resist. Maryland “legislators” are being called pigs and for good reason. Recently, they failed to lower the level of evidence from “clear and convincing” to “preponderance,” a measure that would have made it easier for citizens to get restraining orders against those that pose a threat.

Amy Castillo testified at the hearing to support HB 700. She sought a restraining order and was denied because she wasn’t found credible. Dr. Castillo, a pediatrician with a clean record, said her husband threatened to kill their 3 children. Mark Castillo, who vandalized their doors & windows, had problems with mental illness, and threatened to kill their 3 children – well, folks, I guess HE was seen as credible – later DROWNED their 3 children one-by-one in a hotel bathroom.

There is a deeply-rooted problem in society, being stoked by Men’s Rights Activists and Fathers Righters, that women are not credible (in their words, women are “vindictive liars”). The consequences are not only that men get away with crimes or that “innocent men” can keep their clean records – the consequences result in the death of women and children on a weekly, if not daily, basis. (See the recent case of Katie Tagle who was called a liar several times in court and whose husband took their 9-month-old son and killed him – there’s plenty of other similar cases).  Women are far from winning equality as long as they are seen as less credible than men.

Female lawmakers complain about judiciary chairman 

House judiciary draws protests

Maryland’s roadblock to helping victims of abuse

Dump Luiz Simmons

Silence and denial

I once read a headline “Silence empowers the abuser” that I will never forget. Silence does empower and embolden an abusive person, whether that person commits rape or domestic violence, two crimes that still flourish due to society’s inability to deal with it.

As a society we are quick to blame the victim – was she drinking? what was she wearing? And quick to deny the abuse – the boys were drinking, their hormones were raging, whaddaya expect? or the “nice guy kills family” reporting template for domestic violence where they interview “shocked” neighbors who thought he was a “nice guy” and say “things like that don’t happen around here.” Yeah, uh-huh. Denial runs deep.

It’s also the reason we have more sympathy for victims attacked or assaulted by strangers than by family members (family members serve shorter sentences for rape/pedophilia and get kinder treatment by the media as well).  And, finally, it’s why we have more sympathy for the accused than the abused. Rape or domestic violence stories will bring out the best of the deniers – those that defend (mostly) men and accuse women of being false accusers (liars). They need no evidence, being vocal is enough to brand women as liars – until what century, I wonder? How long are we going to pass down this disfunctional mindset of dealing with abuse? How long? How many more girls, boys, women and men will be raped? How  many more girlfriends and wives will be beaten, strangled and killed? How many children will be murdered to get back at an ex? How many can we tolerate?

To combat rape on campus, schools should stop keeping it quiet