to first ask the person being battered what they are doing to bring on the abuse, rather than what can be done to stop it. The heterosexual community is ahead in bringing the actuality of battering to light, but in both communities activists are still fighting an uphill battle to be heard and to be adequately funded. In both communities victims of battering have a great deal of difficulty in identifying the reality of their situations, and in resolving them, whether by getting out or stopping the abuse while staying. There is a tremendous amount of shame involved in admitting that battering is taking place. Treatment for batterers is in its infancy. There is confusion about how to identify and remedy what is the responsibility of the batterer and what is the responsibility of the victim. In both communities the tendency to place the total responsibility on either the victim or the batterer is very common. The desire to see things in a simplistic way, choosing up sides and demanding that everyone agree to the politically correct point of view of the moment, will undoubtedly use up a lot of energy and drive many people away from attempting political action. It does appear that our society is desperately looking for "those whose fault it is" so they can be punished and then everything will be all right. I do hope that everyone keeps in mind how easy it seems to be for human beings to justify oppressing or killing each other in large numbers, often over political or religious points of view. Nazi Germany, the Great Cultural Revolution of China, the killing of most educated people in Cambodia (anyone who wore glasses was identified as someone who could probably read and therefore worthy of execution), the Stalinist purges, the internment of the Japanese during WWII in the U.S., and after that, the AntiCommunist McCarthy Witchhunts of the 50's, the on-going violence in Northern Ireland, and the problems in the Middle East, come to mind as rec...
