Yes, you’re right, the law encourages battery, murder, rape, etc. [8-)]
Clayton -
Or anyone else. For protection, you must pay for a bodyguard. Or - as has pertained in all cultures in all times until the latter half of the 20th century in the West - if you were a woman, you might rely upon your father to provide protection until you were married, at which time, you would then rely upon your husband for protection. It’s cheaper than a bodyguard and probably more effective in most cases.
Decency. [8-)]
And, in the past, the family handled retribution for torts against their women. Gender-neutral culture is an absurdity which will not last long in the grand scheme of things.
Clayton -
I know you weren’t asking me either, but this definitely falls into the where-do-I-start category.
The crux of the argument she is making can be made in a much less inflammatory way by showing that people fight over power, and any edge that can be had will be had, and that the edges will be sought and used by people in direct proportion to the distance of their fall from grace. Hoppe made a similar point in his essay about intellectuals and the natural elite – this is what people do, and here is what we can do about it.
In other words, thuggier people seek more control over other people and will use whatever tools they can get away with. That applies to any discriminators, not just the difference between men and women.
Women can start by getting out of the victim mindset, although it is a huge task when one is raised from birth to be a victim. Just ask third-generation welfare family.
I just finished reading Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody a few nights ago. She described extremely well how violence against women is/was institutionalized in Iran under the ayatollah. There are loads of pointers in that story, including how the black market worked for helping women out of Iran.
First, the oppressors are not just men, they are women also.
Second, oppressing the oppressors will NOT relieve oppression on the women. The effect will be the opposite, as one can see in other situations of controller behavior. Control loosens when the controller THINKS things are under control. The controller goes nuts (and tightens up) when the situation is wrenched out of his control (such as sanctions would do). Sanctions imposed from the outside would surely cause a lot more trouble for the women in an already intolerable situation.
Third, VERY few women were involved in black market activity for getting women out of Iran. The smugglers were overwhelmingly male. Women were involved in support roles – legal, documentable, white market, not as much risk.
Fourth, you asked for free market activity. Specifically, and this relates to our own cause of promoting freedom in a statist environment, making communication easier is important – easy, low-to-no-cost phones or phone access; letter writing supplies; internet hookups or access. Those are ways for women to get their messages out. Better communications also help messages come IN, so women learn more about their options.
Wholesome food is important, and can get under the radar of most oppressors. Teaching people more about wholesome food can help them gain physiological balance in their minds/brains – this helps BOTH the oppressors (become less compulsive) and the oppressed (become less fragile) by fostering rationality.
Communications and wholesome food are just two things the free market approach can manage quite well without edicts from the UN.