With special guest:
- Erin Pizzey
There is a constant barrage at this time of year in the press and on TV denouncing domestic violence against women. While this is in itself a worthy cause the zealots can not only overlook the information available but also lose track of the objective.
Our guest today is someone well qualified to discuss the world of victims of domestic violence. Erin Pizzey is a woman herself who experienced firsthand a violent family life. The intergenerational nature of domestic violence led to an early life of being violent herself after being exposed to this form of violence from both her parents.
But Erin was able to put a stop to her own tendency after receiving mentoring from outside the family. Looking outside herself Erin then set up Chiswick Women’s Aid in the UK. This was the first shelter for victims of domestic violence set up anywhere in the world. Erin Pizzey should be revered among those who want to expand the provision of care for women.
The shelter was established in the face of enormous obstacles that we could hardly credit now. In those days Police would not intervene if a dispute was in the nature of a “domestic”. If the wife left the family home because of violence but the husband was prepared to take her back she was not entitled to any welfare.
Yet when Erin set up somewhere for these women to stay she was branded as a home wrecker by one side of politics. This has now moved on to the point where Erin has been threatened by feminists from the other side because she cares about all the victims, including the men and the children, not just the wives.
Furthermore Erin has challenged the orthodoxy that domestic violence is a gender issue. With the best research available Erin is getting the word out that this is not a gender issue, and should not be a vehicle allowing an income stream to the men-haters. Domestic violence will not be controlled until it is recognised as due to an inter-generational response to anger and frustration. Only by recognising this and providing perpetrators with alternative responses will we finally be able to have an effect on reducing the amount of violence affecting the whole community.
Erin Pizzey has in recent times become the owner of WhiteRibbon.org and despite threats of legal action and even violence she is using the site to raise awareness of facts about domestic violence. Furthermore any funding raised by the site will not be used to further a feminist objective. This is an iconic website so it is ironic that the organisation that goes by that name is unable to access it to spread its misleading message.
At Dads on the Air we treasure free speech and we welcome Erin Pizzey once again to join us. In this program we talk about the stories from the shelters, the growth of radical feminism and the direction where we should be heading. This is the subject of Erin Pizzey’s latest literary production, her autobiography called This Way to the Revolution: A Memoir. Erin is accomplished in presenting to the media and you will be inspired by listening to this interview.
Erin Pizzey
Erin Pizzey is a founder of Chiswick Women’s Aid in the UK the first ever refuge anywhere in the world for victims of domestic violence. She is a lecturer and advocate and has authored books on domestic violence including the seminal Prone to Violence. Her latest publication is her autobiography This Way to the Revolution: A Memoir. Erin is also an Editor-at-Large and adviser for A Voice for Men on domestic violence policy. Most recently Erin is the owner of the WhiteRibbon.org website.
Song selection by our guest: Somewhere Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole