Media update Part 4

Television

by Mel Feit

Rolanda: Our second Rolanda show in a matter of months was on men as victims of domestic violence.

I was on the panel along with researcher Murray Straus. NCM members Larry Lacey and Rosemary Truglio spoke from the audience.

I have been doing TV talk shows for NCM for seven years, and have been in the middle of some unusual situations, but this Rolanda was the most remarkable show I have done.

Let me set the stage for you: I was on the show to say that women could be just as violent and abusive as men, that men were the victims of family violence at least half of the time.

I cited a recent study from the University of Manitoba which showed that women actually initiate more violence than men.

The director of a battered women's shelter, Charlotte Watson, was there to say that women were almost never violent, that the men's movement had concocted a myth about battered men.

And then it happened...Apparently unable to cope with losing the debate with me, Charlotte, just after arguing that women were non-violent, rose from her chair, stood menacingly over me as if to say to me, "If you don't shut up now I'm going to punch you in the mouth."

It was stunning. I answered the challenge by saying to the studio audience, "Feminists say that acts of physical intimidation are violence. Charlotte just committed an act of violence and you need to let her know that." The audience responded with loud, sustained applause.

Poor Charlotte was publicly humiliated and her point of view discredited.

It was probably the first time in years that Charlotte had her views tested in open debate. I assume that she normally spews forth anti-male bigotry with no opposition. Apparently, she could not fathom that anyone would have the gall to question her view of the world, and that's when she shot herself in the foot.