Domestic Violence and Football Stars

Recently Australian football stars expressed embarrassment about standing up against domestic violence.

They should not be embarrassed about it. They should be proud to be taking that stance.

Now there are many arguments against domestic violence; but one argument that these people can make, that not everyone can make, is that real men don't beat women. Being a real man requires self-control. And a man who beats up women is not practicing self-control; he is being a bully and a coward.

A lot of feminism-affiliated men are regarded by wife beater types as sissies and commies. When someone who is strong and is not affiliated with Marxism speaks out against domestic violence, he has much more credibility. These men would not take it from feminists, and they would not take it from me. But they just might take it from a football star.

The claim that these men make – that real men control women – is a transparent lie. I've known any number of strong, successful men who were good to women, and any number of weak men who weren't. Men should be taught to look up to these strong, successful men who are good to women and stop looking up to barbarians like Eminem.

At the root of this is something very important to society: Defining manhood. Right now, manhood is associated in many people's minds with misogyny, which results in terrible wrongs being done to women and girls. A case needs to be made on a large enough scale that real men don't beat women.

And for that, the football stars are a perfect messenger.