Bad Girls – TV3 documentary on female violence.
Screened on TV3 11th July 2004.
Excerpts
Full transcript here: https://menz.org.nz/2004/bad-girls-tv3-documentary-on-female-violence/
Felicity Goodyear-Smith: Men are these aggressive, violent, dangerous people, and women are these frail, defenseless victims. And in fact, most men and women have both to, you know, to some degree.
Dr Felicity Goodyear-Smith, July 2004
SNIP
So, just how widespread is female violence? Dr. Felicity Goodyear, senior lecturer at Auckland School of Medicine, says that although male violence is more severe, female violence is more common. There’ll be many viewers tonight that will flatly refuse to believe that women are just as likely to dish out violence as their male partners.
Felicity Goodyear-Smith: “I mean, I think the studies overwhelmingly show that men and women engage in violence about equally in terms of initiating violence against each other and in terms of hitting each other. And in fact, in New Zealand, probably women do it slightly more than men. Men can be very violent. They know it is a reality. Some men do batter their wives, some men do beat their children and in horrific ways, and I don’t want to negate that in any way at all.”
SNIP
So, if a father said that he was stressed by his relationship with his wife and that’s why he was bashing the kids, there wouldn’t be a lot of sympathy?
Felicity Goodyear-Smith: “I don’t think so. No.”
Systemic Assumptions and Extreme Cases
Dr. Felicity Goodyear-Smith explains what’s called in the social work business the “Power and Control model”:
Felicity Goodyear-Smith: …that men have the power and control over women and that all our institutions are similarly male-dominated, male-controlled, and that violence comes out of that model.
Family Court Judge Jan Doogue
Jan Doogue: “All I’m doing is sharing my point of view based on what I see day in day out in my court.”
Family Court Judge Jan Doogue delivered a paper last year saying it was time to broaden our understanding of domestic violence, beyond the presumption that it’s only males who are responsible.
Jan Doogue: “It’s not a presumption that we have in the Family Court because we see many cases where there are women who are accused of assaults, be they on their male partners or be they on their children.”
Why is it important to discuss that?
Jan Doogue: “Because until we do and until we get a sophisticated appreciation of the variety of types and causes of violence that exist in our community, we’re not going to be able to tailor-make the appropriate responses for rehabilitating them.”