Appointed: a White House advisor on violence against women

Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 07/1/2009

Appointed: a White House advisor on violence against women

Obama just appointed Lynn Rosenthal, a former executive director of the National Netowrk to End Domestic Violence, to the position of “White House adviser on violence against women.” Apparently this is supposed to be follow-up on the 1994 Violence Against Women Act – which Biden was a key player in getting passed.

Yessssss.

Here are the facts:

*around 2.5 million females experience some form of violence each year, and within this population 2 out of 3 have been attacked by a family member of a person with which they are acquainted.
*Every 21 days, a woman is killed by domestic violence
*in the U.S. a woman is beaten every 7.4 seconds
*there are 1,500 shelters for battered women in the U.S. while there are 3,800 animal shelters.
and so much more…

This is undoubtedly a great move by the White House. Who could disagree with that?

Oh right, Rush Limbaugh. His commentary? “Put some ice on it.” Seriously.

“It’s a domestic violence adviser. What the hell kind of advice are you gonna get? About the only kind of advice – I mean we’re talking about democrats here, right? We’re talking about the party of Bill Clinton. So I assume If you’re going to have a domestic policy adviser, the advice you’re gonna get – put some ice on it. Your lip’s a little bleeding and swollen – put some ice on it, as you leave the swanky motel room.”

Wow. Just purely disgusting. And I get that it’s supposed to be a reference to Clinton’s alleged rape of Juanita Broderick, but Obama is not Clinton – this is a positive thing and to make those comments about domestic violence is just so wrong.

But back to the positive side: at least Domestic Violence is finally being adressed seriously.