assignment 9 Brittany Thomas
I think what Merry was trying to say when she said subjectivities are influenced by ones encounters with the law is that women who are victims of domestic violence tend to seek help from the law but in most cases they end up dropping the charges and restraining orders in fear of losing their families as well as the abuser coming back for retaliation. The law greatly influences both the victim and the abuser’s out look on the seriousness of the subjectivities. Merry shows how if a woman is not given the proper encouragement needed so that she can understand that yes she has rights as a human and as a woman and yes those rights were violated and yes we will do everything in our power to get justice for the crime committed against her as well as any further help needed we will do so. Sometimes this outcome is not the case. Women are often times told by law enforcement that they are over reacting or because the abuser is a man he has a bond with his fellow man and the nature of the crime is then lessoned and a slap on the risk or a warning is issued which in turn empowers the abuser and discourages the abused or when the issues goes all the way up to the judge and another slap on the risk is given because the abuser has a good career and his reputation would be ruined if he was sent to jail over domestic violence or what ever the case may be. However , lets say that a women does seek help from the law and the law in turn actually does it job, justice is done , he goes to jail, get actual help like anger management , psychotherapy etc. to get him back on track and even marriage counseling if the woman has agreed to work things out then the woman is more inclined to ask for help from the law when needed. The journey for women’s rights as human rights will end when the victims of the domestic violence and other criminal acts that are committed against them are reported. It has to start first from the victim because no one can help if their story is never told. If no one hears and its kept behind closed doors due to fear then women will never feel they have or even deserve the right to have better or to be better. It starts with her first.
