Word: victimize
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...prosecuted, even if she changes her mind about the whole thing; in Anchorage, Alaska, a woman who declines to testify against her husband may be fined or jailed. It used to be much more difficult to convict rapists, but states are changing their laws so that simply a victim's say-so may be evidence enough. The Washington State legislature, angry over the difficulty of prosecuting a child molester, passed a law last year allowing hearsay testimony in certain criminal trials to corroborate other evidence...
...cannot afford to get smug. Not all American victims are getting help, or even sympathy. "As a society," says Sociologist Gelles of private violence, "we laugh at this behavior." We should not. But indeed, such behavior is not so completely unthinkable that decent folks do not chuckle when Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden angrily threatens to sock his ever-loving wife. "I'm gonna send you to the moon," he barks on The Honeymooners, his clenched fist waving. "To the moon, Alice." But if people on the one hand laugh off private violence, they become raving, sputtering mad about...
...locating a victim is difficult, pinning the blame on an adult is even trickier. Children are understandably reluctant to accuse their father or mother. When they do, the parent often denies any wrongdoing-and law-enforcement authorities find it difficult to take the word of a child over that of an adult. Despite the pain involved, various counseling groups encourage open confrontations as a means of getting the guilty to face up to the problem...
...part of the profound transformation of ideas about the roles and rights of women in society. In cities and states scattered across the country, legal structures and social service networks, prompted by grass-roots women's organizations, have begun to redefine spouse abuse as a violation of the victim's civil rights and a criminal act of assault subject to the same punishments as other acts of violence. Marital abuse has been called "the silent crime." Bringing it out into the open by talking about it is the first step toward a solution. But for most people, including even...
...even many women, believe that abused wives have a masochistic streak that keeps them in the home long after the beatings have begun. But Michigan Psychologist Camella Serum dismisses such assumptions as folklore. "Masochism has no relevance in this situation. It is just another way to blame the victim. The reason she stays has nothing to do with loving the pain or seeking the violence...