Rise of violence against women

I don't know if you've noticed the same trends, but I am very disturbed that in the past weeks, there seems to be a rise in violence against women. The college student in New York who was abducted and killed, the man who killed his family and shot himself on the freeway in middle America, the police officer who killed his pregnant wife, and now, the professional wrestler who supposedly (and allegedly) killed his wife and child - there seems to be a rise in violence against women.

In all these news stories, the focus is always on the "investigation," but never is feminist thought applied to this - asking why the rise in violence against women? Or, perhaps, is it that the media is merely focusing more on these cases now, being bored with Iraq and having nothing to report about the violations of the Bush Administration?

I assert this: violence against women can be blamed by the culture in which we live in, the one that eroticizes violence and misogyny. Take a look around you - the magazine ads that feature women in the trunk of a vehicle, diamonds that are depicting women lying on the floor with phrases like "to die for," video games that feature violence against women, television shows that show women being murdered.

Do a quick online search and you'll find a host of Web sites devoted to "erotica" that's devoted to rape and forced sex. All of these factors, I think, seap into our conciousness and tell us, as a people, that they're all "natural." No matter how intellectual, advanced and intelligent a society, such thoughts will become socially accepted norms.

One thing I've learned, as a feminist scholar, is that what is "natural" has to be challenged, its agency put into question - with us asking the questions of who the creators of these rules were, and more importantly, why these rules exist.I don't know how to deal with the prevelance of sex and violence on TV. Some parts of me, a more primal, animalistic part, still thinks the idea of being able to "reach out and touch somebody" with an M-16, being 500 meters away, as something that is powerful. In the bedroom, I still think certain mutually erotic pleasures, are still acceptable. But where do we draw the line?

Do we like these things because they are natural - true to the teeth natural, or are we buying into a violent, misogynistic society's product -- a product that, in the end, hurts one half of our human population? I could easily say "fuck it" and just try to be a good person. But our obligation in life is one that's not just for ourselves and our families, but our community and our nation. What then, shall we do, as "enlightened" feminists, when it comes to sex and violence?Marc