From 1909 to 1969, it was the official policy of the Australian government to forcibly remove the mixed race children of single Aboriginal women - many of whom were conceived by rape. The children were placed in orphanages and with church welfare groups, until the '50's when placement with white families became more mainstream. The justification for the policy was that Aboriginal women were incapable of raising their children properly. These children are now called the Stolen Generations.
The Aboriginal Protection Act took an estimated 1 in 10 Aboriginal children away from their single mothers. It was far less common for children from two parent families to be removed. No court order or allegations of neglect were needed - if the child had white blood, it was possible to breed the aboriginality out*. Although on the surface this appears primarily an issue of racism, the blanket assumption that Aboriginal women were incapable of raising their children alone was as intrinsically misogynistic as it was incorrect. And not much has changed.
Today in some remote Australian communities, statistics show that Indigenous women are 45 times more likely to be a victim of domestic violence than non-Indigenous women. In my state alone, Aboriginal women are 10 times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than women of other races and are much less inclined to report sexual violence. Past policy has created an atmosphere of mistrust and segregation that pervades the entire Indigenous community, but women in particular.
In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Aboriginal people for the crimes committed against them. The prior government introduced wide scale alcohol and pornography bans for remote communities in the hope of ending the violence and sexual abuse of Indigenous women and children. It hasn't worked and it will continue to fail until the Australian government becomes serious about change, and begins to listen to what Aboriginal people want for themselves.
Aboriginal women want access to culturally sensitive resources and education for empowerment, without the burden of racist expectations. Australia needs to employ more female Indigenous police officers so that women feel comfortable in reporting the violence committed not only against them, but against their children. They want drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in remote areas to have Indigenous liaison officers, at the very least. It is the current government's responsibility to repair the damage done by their predecessors.
If the hatred or mistrust of women is deemed misogyny then so must the gross neglect of government and policy makers to take effective measures that stop the continued and sustained abuse of indigenous women. Oppression of a subset of women doesn't make the misogyny any less dangerous. In fact, I propose it is even more abhorrent; a combination of racist and sexist attitudes merging together to create and sustain a living hell for thousands of women. The Australian government's attitude towards Indigenous women is organised misogyny at it's worst.
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It's 4am here - I set the alarm to post in solidarity. I'm stumbling back to bed but will explain when I wake up for those that haven't heard the quote.
Thanks for writing this. It's stunning and I think it underscores that there is a correlation between misogyny and racism.
I was familiar with the history, but I didn't realize things were still so bad. Here's hoping 2010 brings some light at the end of that tunnel.
R
As a person, and a writer:
You continue to amaze and impress me, Natalie.
-Rated.
This exact same neglect of our own US indigenous women is going on now with no apology yet. Most of the rapists are white men who are not subject to tribal courts and the us courts say they have no jurisdiction. There is some work going on in this but it stinks of genocide. They always pick on women for these crimes of eradicating a whole people.
"Generally by the fifth and invariably by the sixth generation, all native characteristics of the Australian Aborigine are eradicated. The problem of our half-castes will quickly be eliminated by the complete disappearance of the black race, and the swift submergence of their progeny in the white."
If you strip away the "progressive" tone of that, there's little or nothing to separate it from the ideology of Hitler. It always amazes me how consistently humans are convinced that the race they happen to belong to is the best one. And of course that men are *better* than women at deciding what's best.
This Monty-Pythonesque campaign makes it sound like aboriginal women were primarily abused by teenage boys, seduced into crime by Playboy and demon rum.
But in spite of this diarist's murky conflation of racism and misogyny, the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal women who are abused in Australia today are abused by Aboriginal men.
"Indigenous women are 45 times more likely to be a victim of domestic violence than non-Indigenous women."
Those women aren't abused today by deranged British missionaries from bygone generations, they are abused by their Aboriginal husbands, and although it may flatter the self-righteousness of pseudo-liberal goody-goodies to look back in anger at racist abuses from the Thirties, this exercise is absolutely useless to the Aboriginal women who are supposedly the objects of so much phony "concern."
"But in spite of this diarist's murky conflation of racism and misogyny, the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal women who are abused in Australia today are abused by Aboriginal men."
Here are some numbers which put the lie to your self-righteous snark, oh superior one:
"Carter condcucted 120 interviews with rape survivors in Adelaide, recording 59 cases of rape, ten of which were pack rapes involving 46 rapists. She found that 90 per cent of rape survivors were women, of which 17 per cent were pack raped. Seven per cent of rape survivors described continuous rape over time; 50 per cent of women were between 21 and 28 years old at the time of the rape; 42 per cent of the perpetrators were non-Indigenous, while 41 per cent were Indigenous men, and in 17 per cent of cases Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal men acted together."
42 % were non-Indigenous, meaning white, while in another 17 % whites took part in the rapes. Thanks for your not only phoney, but ill-informed "concern." If you want to roam around being a douchebag you should at least have the figures to back up your ass-hattery. Mine are from:
http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/briefing/b4.html
Regarding "doin it backwards ...," you may already know that Fred designed the dances with Hermes Pan, the choreographer for the movies. Pan happened to be the same size as Ginger.
Are these offense committed by Aboriginal or Non-Aboriginal offenders ?
Historically speaking, Lakota women were equal to Lakota men. They owned property: in point of fact other than personal possessions (i.e. shield, lance, horses {both battle and hunting}, bow, arrows and clothing) Lakota women owned the homes, the contents of those homes, livestock (horses were part of the "bride price" paid and they were the property of the women), etc... were the property of women and if the women left the relationship the property,in large measure, went with them.
While rape did happen, it did not happen at the rate that many perceive it to have happened at. If you weren't a captive of another tribe it was very unlikely that you would ever be raped. It was far more "typical" for captives to be raped than it was for a female member of the tribe to be raped. It must also be said that what we call "Domestic Violence" today was also a rare event within Lakota society from a historical perspective. Both were frowned upon and for both the punishments were severe... and usually brutal.
How do I know these things? I am a Lakota woman. Grand daughter of a Medicine Man. Married to a Lakota man. Great Grandson of a Lakota man whose name (in English) was Crazy Horse.
I can't answer your question from any other tribal perspective. I'm not up on the specifics of any other tribe's historical information with regards to the individual societies in question.
Neither of the first two succeeded, altho one did garner a "rating" from someone whose posting I had omplimented moments earlier.
My bid for attention was successful with Why I'm a misogynist and damned proud of it!, receiving comments from a handful of regulars here, most of whom understood my satiric intent.
I just now finished reading your piece, and I am humbled by the agonizing experience you so eloquently elucidated. Thank you for taking the courage to share this part of your life with strangers. I hope that other men who read it, like myself, will benefit from the enlightenment it provides.
My very best wishes to you, and I do look forward to reading more of your work.
Bonnie, thank you so much for coming up with this idea and motivating me to write about something I should have drawn attention to earlier.
Mrs Raptor, thanks for your unique perspective here. From what I have read, Aboriginal women had a very high standing in their tribes before colonisation. They still do today in some remote areas. There are a many educated, empowered Aboriginal women fighting for the rights of their sisters, and they're the ones we have to listen to instead of white politicians who, although I think have predominately good intentions now, just don't understand.
Jill, I see that correlation all over, particularly with muslim women and the West's attitude towards them. It's disheartening.
Catherine, thank you for reading.
littleboxofspoons, the police enforce the ban enthusiastically. The main problem is it's divisive because it stinks of racism, because it's directed only at remote areas where Aboriginals live.
Thank you for coming by, Robin xox
Lonnie, it's a double edged sword, isn't it? I can't be proud of a society that marginalises people based on gender or race...or any other reason for that matter. I really don't believe that we'll ever have equality for all, but we need to keep trying.
Sparking, the whole film is very well done. It's based on the book written by the daughter of one of those girls, telling the story of her mother and aunts.
Mark, normally I don't like to be bile-inducing ;)
Ainthatamerica, I appreciate you reading the post - thank you.
Tai, that's an awesome compliment coming from you.
Losingmyreligion, I'm assuming most Australian people aren't fully aware of the extent of the problem. I know I wasn't until I started researching it.
Steph, Lucretia Mott once said that in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.
Nana, the white Australia policy had a lot of similarities to Hitler's vision of a superior race. We still have people that think that way today, which is horrifying.
I'm sure Natalie will respect and answer your query herself, but if I may : there isn't any evidence to suggest that indigenous women in Australia were ever ' the weakest link ', or the most vulnerable, either. Not in their own cultures.
For any society to exist in harmony with neighbours ( and what we call Australia had over 350 such , and as many languages ) continuously for 40,000 years, balances within were polished like shells. Then we arrived, from England, killed most, re-arranged most of the rest, and supplied those with alcohol, which as you know, removes responsibility.
The extraordinary thing is : cultures survived, and have been rekindled, and in many, many places, thrive.
Thanks Natalie.
Phil Noyce's director's cut DVD is worth looking at, as is Mankaja Art Centre, or anything by Bangarra Dance Co.
Jacob, I've always respected you for posting on important issues. You give voice to people that can't speak for themselves, and that's great. The thing is, you have become so defensive that you immediately go on the attack. In this instance, you have your facts wrong and you're out of line. You know absolutely nothing about me, so to suggest that my concern for a people who I grew up with is phony is puzzling, to say the least. Without addressing the problems that colonisation caused, we obviously can't fix the issues we have now because they're directly related.
Drew, thank you for that. I've read the report that those statistics come from, and it's a good one.
WAH, I really recommend watching the film or reading the book it was adapted from. This clip is just a small part of an inspiring story.
Dynomyte, I can identify with that. I've had dreams of other lives.
Stim, I didn't know that. Did Pan where high heels?
Zyskandar, that's a very interesting question. In Indigenous Australian culture, history shows us that women were held in very high esteem. Alcohol and drugs (introduced by white society) play a huge role in the abuse, for sure. One of the reports that I read in my research claims that the "redundancy of the traditional Aboriginal male role and status, compensated for by an aggressive assertion of male rights over women and children" is at the root of the problem. My personal opinion is that it's a mixture of these things: drug and alcohol abuse, the effects of demoralisation and persecution for so long, and the reluctance of Aboriginal women to report the abuse because of an unsympathetic system.
Drew, the abuse is committed by both Indigenous men and white men.
Owl, I'm not overly familiar with the problem in the U.S, but I would assume the statistics are similar, and for the same reasons.
Clark, I missed the post because I went back to bed, but I will look for it and appreciate it with the humour it was written in. My title was completely random and unrelated to the post, but I thought it would draw more attention than "misogyny in Australia" or something similar. If you keep writing and commenting, you will gain a readership here. It's difficult in the beginning, I know.
Ahmed, if there's a man I could objectify based on his appearance in an avatar it would be you ;) As you know, I'm very familiar with Islamic culture and know that Islam itself granted rights to women that men took away with their interpretations.
Kali, there's an old saying that every time a woman is liberated so is a man (or something) - there's still hope!
David, thank *you*.
Jane, I think things are improving, but at such a rate that it's difficult to notice.
A. it's a great movie - I hope you enjoy it.
Steve, i went back through a few of your posts yesterday, and have to say that I think you're one of the most talented writers on OS. I appreciate your continued support.
Mjay, Although I think that alcohol plays a big part in domestic violence in all areas, the policy of blanket bans for Indigenous communities is racist, hypocritical and divisive. It caused quite a stir here in Australia when it was implemented.
Kim, great to hear from another Aussie. I love your comment. I grew up in Coffs living with my grandmother, who was an artist. The gallery where she worked and displayed her art had a beautiful collection from local Aboriginal artists that I was fortunate enough to know. Bangarra d/c toured in '09 and I missed it - were you lucky enough to catch them?
And god I love it when you speak english, Zaj.
I am psyched about the new study that says whites will (finally) become a minority in the U.S. in 2042. I might actually live to see the day (I'll be 90 then)! Now THERE's a goal I can live for. Every day I see the result of rich whites not giving a hoot about the poor 'whatevers.' This center cannot hold, can it? Rated.
I must admit. Other than seeing Rabbit Proof Fence with my eldest when she was 12 (and devastating both of us) and listening to Midnight Oil, I didn't know the plight of Aboriginal women in Australia. My shame. Thank you for this, so that I may begin to learn.
I couldn't agree more with "If the hatred or mistrust of women is deemed misogyny then so must the gross neglect of government and policy makers to take effective measures that stop the continued and sustained abuse of indigenous women."
You have some great suggestions for what needs to be done!
But this claim is obviously absurd to anyone who cares enough about violence against women belonging to any minority to know fuck-all about this issue, and everywhere statistics are collected today, women predominantly suffer sexual violence from men of the same ethnicity, except for isolated populations of "guest-workers," and in war-zones.
Drew-Silla's own source also reports...
"However, in terms of reported violence, the New South Wales Police statistics for the year 2000, show that of the 102 sexual
assaults reported against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 73 per cent of the offenders were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and of the 2000 domestic violence related assaults against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people recorded, 84.8 per cent of the offenders were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Fitzgerald and Weatherburn 2001)."
But it's always easier for posters like Drew-Silla to flatter their own self-righteousness by waving the bloody flag of racism instead of informing themselves about the actual suffering of ethnic-minority, and that's just another indication of the phoniness of their phony concern.
If you actually cared at all, you would care enough to get the facts right, even if you still didn't care enough to do fuck-all about it.
"Some of the reasons why Indigenous women continue not to report sexual assault include: intimidation by authority figures and white people in general; closeness of communities leading to fear of reprisals or shame; the relationship of the survivor to the perpetrator; unfamiliarity with legal processes; and a fear that the perpetrator will be sent to prison (Greer and Breckenridge 1992;
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Task Force on Violence 2000; Memmott et al. 2001; Moore 2002)."
But God forbid that anyone should criticize the deeply patriarchal and repressive Aboriginal culture, when it's so much easier and so much more more flattering to the self-righteousness of pseudo-liberals to blame it all on whitey!
Emma, I need to read more about what's happening in Canada in regard to indigenous people.
Dragonlady, my children are half Lebanese, and I have mixed Indonesian, Zimbabwean and Norwegian siblings and cousins.
Sweetfeet, exactly.
Lorraine, Midnight Oil did a lot for raisning awareness for the Aboriginal people. I love their music.
Painting, the movie was based on a book. I recommend reading it if you can get your hands on a copy.
Eva, that's pretty much how I feel when I read, or even think about what's going on.
Jacob, does it matter who the abusers are? Is it more or less tragic if the abusers are aboriginal or white men? I'm not understanding your reasoning. You cite a study that proves Drew's point as much as your own.
Women are not reporting abuse because of intimidation by authority figures and white people was the number one reason given in the information you posted. Why? Do you suggest they're imagining the persecution they've suffered under white people?
Most of the abusers are Aboriginal men. Is that because white men are underrepresented in rural and remote Aboriginal communities? Does it even matter? Women and children are being abused. It's my government's responsibility to do everything they can to stop it. I don't see what part of that is so confronting for you.
Natalie, I'm lost here.
What do you DO with people like this, on your site ?
Argue, educate, re-iterate, or just expose them for the nasty little twisted racist bastards some of them might be ?
Drew, I'm writing tedious, tendentious little manikin down for recycling at a later date.
And Natalie darling, you're of course free to use it as you see fit. What's mine is yours, you know that;)
"Jacob, does it matter who the abusers are? "
Of course it matters, if you want to improve the situation. Community self-defense won't eliminate abuse from within the community.
I only commented on this self-congratulatory thread because the Australian government has been so ludicrously inept at improving the situation, and the idea of preventing rape and domestic abuse by banning porno is a Keystone-Kops example of pseudo-liberal goody-goodyism at its most abject.
What's-his-face who thinks it's racist to call Australian Aboriginal culture "deeply patriarchal and repressive" has obviously never spent so much as a minute in an Aboriginal community, and the overwhelmingly repressive force of Aboriginal society isn't directed at women only.
Now American soldiers and even a few Aussies have been running up and down remote valleys in Afghanistan for almost a decade, and one of the more recent excuses for occupying that God-forsaken country is improving the lives of women... but without any radical alteration in the underlying culture, which is dominated now as forever by a particularly fundamentalist form of Wahabism.
Eventually it will probably be possible for shallow pseudo-liberals to blame head-to-toe burkhas on American invaders, and anyone who criticizes those monstrous prisons-in-the-form-of-a-garment will immediately be branded as a racist by reflex yammerers like what's-his-face.
But if you want to pose as someone who really cares, the first step toward credibility has to be... understanding the problem, instead of simply applying the first pseudo-liberal cliche that occurs to you, and the overwhelming sexism of Aboriginal society plays a very significant role in the miserable lives of Aboriginal women in Australia.
Your anger and derision is misplaced, so I suggest you take your self-righteous attitude and shove it down someone else's throat. Your own, preferably.
It's part of what he does for a living.
One of the things he doesn't need is people perpetrating lies online about the state of things in this country.
Some communities are doing it tough.
Others are succeeding.
The main problems have been alcohol, dope, and petrol.
These problems are being addressed.
Sexism or misogyny, however much it attracts you, are not the issue here. People like you, and the misguided efforts you make, are very much the bproblem here. Please, for everyone's sake, come on board.
Rated.
"The main problems have been alcohol, dope, and petrol."
This supposedly explains why Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to suffer domestic abuse than "white" women in Austalia, although an awful lot of "white" people in Australia also smoke pot, drink booze, and drive cars.
Harharharhar!!!
You might as well claim that Aboriginal women are abused because of sunshine and kangaroos.
(Caution: More animal metaphors ahead!)
Racism from the Thirties in Australia is not only a dead horse that anyone can safely beat, it's also a red herring that distracts attention from the real problems of Aboriginal women, and that was the only reason I bothered to comment on this thread of mutual pseudo-liberal self-congratulation.
But in spite of ludicrous pseudo-liberal goody-goodyism like banning porn, domestic abuse of Aboriginal women is likely to increase in the foreseeable future, exactly in proportion to increasing opportunities for Aboriginal women to make non-traditional choices with their lives, and the concommitant resentment of Aboriginal men directed at women who try to escape the sphere of Aboriginal patriarchy, and that's exactly the tendency of most of the available statistics about domestic abuse of Aboriginal women since the Eighties.
Paradoxically, programs directed primarily at women are likely to exacerbate rather than improve the situation, but the fundamental problem of restoring the dignity of Aboriginal men is literally incomprehensible to Australian politicians and the voters who elect them, and it's probably insoluble anyway.
Jacob, I have no idea where you come from, or what your experience of indigenous communities in Australia might be, or what kind of information you access to support your point of view, but you make some terrible assumptions.
The alcohol I referred to is not two glasses of chilled rose sipped over seafood. It's what we call 'goon', and you drink it at dirt temperature, pints at a time.
The dope I referred to is not pot ( which I don't imagine would incur much wrath ), but basic, shit-meth ( which does ).
By petrol, I didn't mean that what you put in a car. It's the same stuff, but you put it into a plastic container then shove your face into the opening and take deep, deep breaths. Generally, you are sitting down, under a tree while you do this.
The brain damage incurred, if you begin at say, nine or ten, will render you uncontrollable by twelve. By then, you're old enough to drink goon. And by then, it doesn't take much goon to make you're grandmother scared of you.
I said, of my own experience, that it's been good so far.
I've worked in mainly dry communities, and I work with the children. I've seen more hope in these places than despair.
Mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts who get their children to school to learn gidja, english, and maths.
I have no idea what the ratio is, of people who stay, to people who choose to adopt a non-traditional lifestyle might be, but my impression is that there's a balance. Both are pursued by women, and by men, and it seems to me to be about equal.
Rasism in Australia is not some relic of the thirties, as you suggest.
It's alive, and people face it daily. With help and encouragement, they're facing it down.
Check out Bran Nue Dae, coming soon to a cinema near you.
The dignity and self-respect of the remaining indigenous communities will occur when full title to their land is restored.
Europeans have been in this country little more than 200 years, and as Natalie pointed out, it's only been 40 since we ceased to take indigenous children from their mothers by the force of law - or granted them citizenship, of their own country.
And still, as you probably know, it takes time. But lately there's been little fires of hope, flickering across the country.
Exhibitions, films, dance companies, bands and clear-thinking people are touring. You can feel it. You can feel the pride, and the wonder here. Rock art galleries and eco-tourism are drawing people from all over the world, to feel this, to see this, and to listen.
And you wonder why I get pissed off by people like you.
Not, Kim, I don't wonder why marginally literate people like you get pissed off when I challenge the conventional "wisdom" of their milieux.
And of course it never even occurs to you that Aboriginal culture can't be fixed, and that the damage inflicted upon it by colonization was fatal.
Now what? Shall we try a little low-concept rehab for so much social gangrene and so many nasty habits, or give up on the culture and try to save the people?
But the political situation of Aboriginal populations is always and everywhere exploited by ethnic demagogues and the credulous goody-goodies who empower them, and the overwhelmingly likely future for children born into dead cultures is more of the same abject misery you described.
' colonialization was fatal '
'dead cultures '
'abject misery '
- I offered you examples of hope, and I suggest there are so many more.
Maybe, Jacob, it's time you presented to us where you're coming from, and what makes you the arbiter of doom, with authority.
Google ?
And what am I ? Semi, or marginally - literate ? Why say such a thing ?
What's this about, Jacob ? You and you're shaky perspective, or a people trying seriously to work it out ?
You think they're dead, right ?
Maybe one day you might come to Australia and feel something of what is actually occurring here. Hope so.
Natalie, Zaj ? where you gone ?
Maybe you might talk to Nanate about his observations, too.
Thoth, thank you for your continued support. You're always there with a kind word and I appreciate it.
Kim, your comment on Aboriginal culture was very interesting - have you considered doing a post showcasing Aboriginal art and dance?
Jacob, I don't know what to say to you. I'm tired of defending my position and refuse to do it anymore.
Bless you, and Rated.
Bottom line, Manifest Destiny beat out much more civilized civilizations, then consistently treated them this way, not just down under but all over.
American ignorance is shocking- especially with Google now 10 years old, Wikipedia having pretty much everything archived now (and, Conservopedia for the mentally challenged and those wanting to defend practices like you mention.)
So, let me again attempt to inject some truth here- THE ABORIGINES ARE FAR FROM A PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. THEY TRADED ON ANCIENT SEA ROUTES WITH THE BUGIS FOR OVER A THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE EVER SEEING A HAOLE.
So, whether seppo or plain old Oz Dog ignorance, it is ignorance all the same.
BTW, is Cathy Freeman's name still an oxymoron?
BTW, if only you could go back in time to Black Flag in Huntington at Beach Blvd.- us, including the mates from Bells, trashing Rollins and tossing his ass out in the street ... ah, the folly of youth when half your friends are crazed Ozzies ... miss that ... even Occy has gone good citizen on us ... AUWE
Thanks ... to both of you ...