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domestic disturbances
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domestic disturbances
domestic disturbances
Britain: Making It Easier For Women To Stay Home, And Reinforcing The Stereotype That They Should
As if there hasn't been quite enough said about the work-life choices women get to make, Nicola Brewer, the chair of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission in Great Britain, ignited a debate about maternity leave and its effect on women's careers this weekend that has landed her in a spot of hot water. Recently, the government decided to change the laws on maternity leave to require employers offer mothers up to a year off instead of the current nine months, which sounds totally great on the surface but for one thing: men get 2 weeks paternity leave. What that means is that the government is sanctioning the expectation that women will be the primary caregivers, making it nearly impossible for men to share in those responsibilities (or to take them over) and doing nothing to advance the cause of actual equality. More »
domestic disturbances
23-Year-Old Woman Leaves Religious Sect, Loses Daughter
When learning about the most Orthodox sects within any religion, it's very easy to judge their more extreme rituals as freakish. I think I was a little guilty of painting the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints with the freak brush, and I will consciously try not to do that with the Satmar Hasidim from Kiryas Joel, a group of ultra-religious Jews who are the subject of this week's New York Magazine cover story. Here's the gist: a young woman named Sterna "Gitty" Gittel Grunwald, 23, (pictured) used to live in the upstate New York town of Kiryas Joel, which is an exclusively Satmar enclave. Much like the FLDS, the Satmars arrange marriages and don't believe in birth control. After marrying a man named Yoely when she was 17 and having a daughter, Esther Miriam, Gitty realized, “I couldn’t live in KJ anymore, that I didn’t want to be one of those women who pop out babies every eighteen months and think whatever their husbands tell them to… When Esther Miriam was born, that raised the stakes, because now there were two of us. Two KJ girls.” More »
domestic disturbances
Atlanta-Area Man Accused Of "Honor Killing" Of Adult Daughter
On Sunday, Chaudhry Rashid, the 54-year-old owner of a pizza parlor outside Atlanta, was accused of strangling his 25-year-old daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, because she filed for divorce to end her marriage. While authorities claim that Kanwal had an arranged marriage from which she was escaping, Rashid's lawyer, Tammi Long, tells the Atlanta Journal Constitution: "I don't know anything about an arranged marriage…I am not positive that is a factor in this case." Rashid, for his part, claims innocence and purports to be crushed by his daughter's death, though all evidence in Kanwal's death points to him. More »
domestic disturbances
Women Are Often 'Trailing Spouses' Because Of The Jobs They Choose
Now that families with two working parents are the norm, couples are beginning to bicker over who becomes the "trailing spouse." According to CNN, the "trailing spouse" is the one whose career is subordinate. For instance, if a husband has to relocate for his job and the wife agrees to it, despite her career taking a hit, she's the trailing spouse. Mary Noonan, author of a study about working couples, says that wives are more often than not the trailing spouse because, "men and women are taught to play very different roles within marriage. Women are socialized to play a homemaking role within the family, whereas men are encouraged to focus on their careers and breadwinning." But I think the socialization goes a step further. As we've discussed, women are opting out of many science careers, and few go into other extremely demanding fields like politics. Women are choosing jobs from the get-go that are more malleable. More »
domestic disturbances
America Loves Abused Puppies Approximately 2.5 Times More Than Battered Women
Did you know that there are 3,800 animal shelters in the United States, but only 1,500 shelters for abused women? Economist Allison Schrager is well aware of this fact, and she wrote about the puppies vs. people issue in More Intelligent Life. You might be thinking that it's not an either animals or women issue, that it should be both, that we should support the humane treatment of any being. But it turns out that for many philanthropists, it is either/or. Schrager talks about a charity devoted to helping battered women, called the Retreat. "The charity is located in East Hampton, a posh beach community, full of people who make philanthropy a part of their financial and social lives. Yet she struggles to find donors," Schrager notes. "In response to her requests, [the fundraising director] often hears, 'Well, no one I would know would be a victim of domestic violence. Besides, I already give money to the animal rescue charity.' The animal rescue charity is one of the best endowed in the area." More »
Breaking: a judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of Drew Peterson on gun charges. Of the guns that were confiscated by police, one was too short under Illinois law. Peterson is a former police officer whose fourth wife, Stacy, has been missing since October. His third wife's death was recently ruled a homicide. [My Fox Chicago]
domestic disturbances
Uncovering Domestic Abuse Can Start At The Doctor's Office
Many doctors are reluctant to probe patients about possible domestic abuse, but studies show that merely asking a battered woman if she has been abused can help her. Barbara Gerbert, director of the Center for Health Improvement and Prevention at UC San Francisco tells the New York Times, "Just by asking, you may be planting a seed for change." Even years later a woman might remember her doctor reaching out to her and be moved to ask for help. Experts are recommending that doctors now screen for domestic abuse even when there is no physical evidence, as domestic violence is, "more common in women than many diseases for which doctors regularly check, including breast and colon cancer, and its health risks are well documented," according to Dr. Erin Marcus, associate medical director of the Institute for Women’s Health at the University of Miami, writing for the Times. More »
domestic disturbances
Mother/Daughter Conflict + Bad Brain Chemistry = Self-Mutilation
Did you hate your mom as a teenager? Who didn't! But a negative relationship between mothers and daughters taken in tandem with low serotonin levels could lead to cutting and other self-harm, a new study shows. Fraught mother/daughter dealings alone generally do not inspire cutting, says study co-author, University of Washington psych professor Theodore Beauchaine. It's the combo of low serotonin ("an important chemical for brain stability," says Science Daily) and poor mother/daughter relations that's really the one-two punch. "Most people think in terms of biology or environment rather than biology and environment working together," says Beauchaine. "Having a low level of serotonin is a biological vulnerability for self-harming behavior and that vulnerability increases remarkably when it is paired with maternal conflict." More »
domestic disturbances
Swedish Man Drugs Pregnant Girlfriend In Attempt To Induce Miscarriage
Three months after a Wisconsin man reportedly laced his pregnant girlfriend's food with the abortificient RU-486, comes news that a 27-year-old Swedish man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for doing the exact same thing. The unnamed Swede reportedly attempted to make his girlfriend of eight years miscarry by grinding up abortion-inducing pills and mixing them into her yogurt. "The woman ate the yoghurt and suffered severe stomach pains and vaginal bleeding," reports CBS News (via AP). "When she later realized what she had eaten, she decided to have an abortion, fearing that the fetus had been permanently damaged by the pills." Although the story serves to underscore the reality that pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to domestic violence — expectant mothers are more likely to be victims of murder than to die of any other cause — it also raises an important issue: does the prosecution of men who attempt to induce miscarriage in women help the cause of anti-choice activists? More »
domestic disturbances
Suspicious Drowning Of Drew Peterson's Third Wife Ruled A Homicide
Drew Peterson, the despicable police officer and husband of still missing (and probably dead) fourth wife Stacy Peterson, might not be free much longer. The death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, has been ruled a homicide. After Stacy (pictured here with her son and her younger sister) mysteriously disappeared without a trace in late October, Kathleen's body was exhumed. And, although the original autopsy performed on her back in March 2004 declared Kathleen's death an accident, upon further investigation, forensic analysts now believe foul play was involved. (Kathleen drowned in a bathtub). More »
domestic disturbances
Can Female Vegetarians And Male Carnivores Ever Find True Foodie Love?
"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit." Ha! That's Anthony Bourdain in the best-selling memoir Kitchen Confidential, and the writer/celebrity chef's famous phrase made an appearance in today's New York Times, which, on the eve of Valentine's Day, delves into the issue of dietary restrictions as potential dealbreakers among couples. A vegan quoted in the article, Lisa Romano, says that she recently dumped a boyfriend because he liked grilling his burgers alongside her soy patties, something she found "unenlightened and disturbing." Explains Romano: "I need someone who is ethically on the same page." That makes sense: If not killing animals for food is so high on someone's ethical scale that she refrains from eating meat, I imagine that her moral compass is set pretty differently from that of a rampant carnivore. More »
domestic disturbances
CDC: 25% Of American Women Are Victims Of Domestic Abuse
A new release from the CDC reports that nearly a quarter of American women and 11.5% of American men have experienced some kind of intimate partner violence during their lifetimes. According to Reuters, the CDC defines "intimate partner violence" as "threatened, attempted or completed physical or sexual violence or emotional abuse by a spouse, former spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend or a dating partner." Not only does the abuse cause immediate damage, but the CDC has found that victims of abuse are much more likely to suffer from other long-term health problems as a result of partner violence. To wit: Abused women are 80% more likely to have a stroke, 70% more prone to heart disease and arthritis, and 60% more asthmatic than the rest of the female population. Not to mention the mental repercussions: Reuters reports that abuse victims are "twice as likely to report that their activities are limited by physical, mental or emotional problems." More »
domestic disturbances
Women In Tiny Town Leave Household Duties To Their Husbands
According to Reuters, 70% of Canadian households are run by women, and most of those women are also holding down full-time jobs. The Canadian national channel, the CBC, is using these statistics as the backbone for a forthcoming special called The Week The Women Went, based on a BBC documentary of the same name. CBC producers set up shop in the tiny (population: 760) town of Hardisty, Alberta, then took all the women and sent them on holiday, leaving the children and domestic duties solely to the men for a week. Hardisty's Kelly Weatherly predicted, "It will be a disaster, a complete disaster," but the original BBC version of The Week The Women Went showed that the stunt actually helped create a greater sense of parity between husbands and wives in the domestic sphere. More »
NY Times Op-Ed contributor Judith Warner in today's "Domestic Disturbances" column: "I don't for a moment begrudge Hillary her victory on Tuesday. But if victory came for the reasons we've been led to believe - because women voters ultimately saw in her, exhausted and near defeat, a countenance that mirrored their own - then I hate what that victory says about the state of their lives and the nature of the emotions they carry forward into this race. I hate the thought that women feel beaten down, backed into a corner, overwhelmed and near to breaking point, as Hillary appeared to be in the debate Saturday night. And I hate even more that they've got to see a strong, smart and savvy woman cut down to size before they can embrace her as one of their own." [NY Times]
domestic disturbances
Having Breakfast? Save This Story For Later
In the most fucked up story of domestic violence this year, Tyler Texas's own Christopher Lee McCuin, 25, murdered his girlfriend Jana Shearer, 21, on Saturday, sliced her up and began cooking her body parts. It's unclear whether or not he pulled a full blown Hannibal Lecter and ate her, but according to the Associated Press, "When authorities arrived at the home, they found Shearer's mutilated body, one ear boiling in a pot of water on the stove and a fork sticking out of some human flesh sitting on a plate on the kitchen table." McCuin called the authorities on Sunday to turn himself in, but not before showing his mother and her boyfriend Shearer's mutilated body, which McCuin was keeping in their garage. County Sheriff J.B. Smith says McCuin wanted his mother to "come see what he had done." More »
domestic disturbances
"Thermostat Wars": Mad Michigan Woman Hates Hubby's High Thermostat; Packs Heat
Sleeping temperatures are often a bone of contention among couples — I'm always cold and sticking my icicle hands under my boyfriend's warm tummy, much to his chagrin. Most people would just whine about their freezing feet or use covert tactics like turning the heat down behind their partner's back, but Cheryl Grucz, 61, of Washington Township, Michigan, decided to bring in the big guns. Literally. Her husband Joseph wanted to turn up the heat, and according to the Associated Press, Cheryl "pulled out a gun and shot their flat-screen TV while [Joseph] cowered behind a pillow." Joe told the 911 dispatcher: "She's all excited about [him turning the temperature up] because she's so cheap." (Gives new meaning towards the phrase "hot flashes", no?) More »
domestic disturbances
