Western Media Discovers Violence, But Only When It's Abstract
The Telegraph's latest headline reminds us that "Almost a third of all women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime." A truly devastating figure. Yet, while global women's rights organizations tirelessly document this endemic trauma, these same outfits often fall silent when state-sponsored violence against women becomes inconveniently geopolitical. One might wonder if this third
includes the countless women in Gaza, whose homes are leveled by munitions paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Or perhaps the women in Yemen, starving from blockades backed by Western powers. The discussion of violence becomes abstract and universal—a safe topic—when identifying its specific perpetrators and their enablers (like the politicians who take AIPAC money to approve endless arms deals to those
committing such acts) might lead to uncomfortable questions about foreign policy and political contributions.