After seeing Megyn Kelly’s interview with Women’s Media Center spokesperson, (always use gender neutral speech when referencing feminists) Shelby Knox, I remembered a few facts about the feminist movement’s relationship with domestic violence. After the video, let’s examine other high-profiles of domestic violence* and the feminist movement. It’s not such a supportive history.

Superbowl Sunday 1993
The week prior to the Superbowl, numerous women’s groups announced that calls to domestic violence shelters dramatically increased the day after the Superbowl. Watching men beat each other up on the gridiron caused men to rough up their wives, girlfriends and mothers.

Wrong! It turns out a “coalition of women’s groups” in California had fudged some numbers from a study conducted at Old Dominion University and actually misquoted an expert on domestic violence in their press release. However, the damage was done. If you Google “Superbowl, domestic violence” hits come up for nearly every year since then. Christina Hoff Sommers also examines the evolution of this myth in Who Stole Feminism?

O.J. Simpson 1994
In her book, The New Thought Police, Tammy Bruce recounts here experience in leading the California NOW chapter’s efforts to fight domestic violence after Nicole Brown Simpson was found murdered. Regardless if OJ did it or not, there was clear evidence that she has frequently abused in the relationship. Bruce use the high-profile story to lead candlelight vigils and increase advocacy efforts to fight domestic violence. She was making so much noise in California that conservative Christians were donating money to their domestic violence efforts.

A problem emerged when higher-ups in the NOW told Bruce to stop. She was making the NAACP and other minority partners upset. In the grand scheme of leftist politics, race counted more than sex (according to Leslie Sanchez’s book, We’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe, this was also was a factor in Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign). According to the hierarchy of Democrats, feminists couldn’t highlight the domestic abuse issue in the OJ Simpson case because OJ was black. Despite the good that might come about, it ruffled feathers in the liberal coalition. Bruce was maligned by the highest levels of NOW and the feminist movement and officials distanced themselves from her.

Bill Clinton, late 1990s
Despite mounting evidence that Bill Clinton took advantage of women and potentially raped them. Aside from Monica, which would have been deemed inappropriate by any private workplace, (Harassment of interns should never be tolerated even when “consensual.”) there was Juanita Broadderick, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones. Not one feminist group stood up to Clinton. Like the Bruce situation, they sacrificed one for the team in order to protect their waning voice in Democratic politics.

Domestic Violence in LGBT Relationships
Domestic violence PSAs and images are very stereotyped. What do you call a man’s sleeveless undershirt? A wifebeater! Where do you think that name came from?

A dirty little secret among feminists and other liberal groups is that domestic violence is just as prevalent among LGBT intimate partners as it is among heterosexuals. That mans that middle-aged white men are not the most dangerous individuals around, as feminists would have you believe. Anyone can perpetrate violence against an intimate partner, women against men, women against women and men against men. When was the last time you heard that talked about during Domestic Violence Awareness month?

Feminists are quick to play the domestic violence card when it suits their purposes. However, whenever it might place them in a sticky situation or make their friends look bad, it doesn’t happen. Every time they cry wolf about an issue and then fall back on a domestic violence charge, it cheapens the actual problem of domestic abuse in our society. Every false charge hurts women (and men and children) who are stuck in violent situation. Having seen and talked to kids and women who were real victims, it makes me sick to see them attempt to gain political capital from a bad strategic decision.

High profile groups such as NOW and Women’s Media Center may give lip service with a few PSAs and press releases throughout the year, but they cause real harm to the small groups and hard-working advocates fighting this terrible problem in society. On the same day that they called Pam Tebow’s tackle “bizarre” or “violent,” a real case of high-profile abuse by a Warren Sapp, former NFL player and Dancing With the Stars finalist, was reported. Did you hear any feminists condemn his actions? Joe Henderson, columnist at the Tampa Bay Tribune has a problem with the situation:

NOW fights legitimate issues and has been a strong (if occasionally strident) voice against real problems in society.

This isn’t one of them.

A statement like this actually hurts women’s causes because it comes across as irrational wide-eyed rhetoric, especially when you consider the timing.

Hours before the Tebow ad ran, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Warren Sapp was arrested in Miami on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery against a woman.

Where was Terry O’Neill on that one? (H/T NeW)

Groups that claim to fight domestic violence should not be selective when it has the potential to get their names in the news and raise a few dollars. Either they fight every case or they don’t engage. Sadly, there are enough high-profile domestic violence cases that they could made an difference if they actually lived up to their name. Instead, they tried to fight pro-lifers and looked like idiots, so they changed strategies and exploited a cause that has the potential to inflict real damage in the lives of women.