Deseret News | Reader comments: Y. researcher finds war link to the treatment of women

Reader comments
Y. researcher: War, women connected

Great article | 1:20 a.m. June 15, 2009

Thank you, Professor Hudson, for your dedicated work on this subject, and thanks to the BYU students who assisted.

I also appreciate the web site for the WomenStats Project which includes fascinating world maps.

Peace within and among nations literally begins at home, says Professor Hudson.

Very wise.

Rachel E | 10:40 a.m. June 15, 2009

What wonderful work.

I look forward to seeing what impact the WomenStats Project may have on foreign policy in the future. What a great wealth of information!

Dr. Hudson, Thanks for looking at the "heart of the matter."

Margaret | 10:41 a.m. June 15, 2009

I am a Marriage and Family Therapist in Henderson, Nevada. I am interested in even more subtle elements of 'treatment of women', that are not as violent as physical injury, death, or rape, but are subtle messages that are imbedded in language and hierarchy. I am going to look up the research sites you have give. Thank you for an excellent portrayal of what statistics point to in terms of gender bias. I hope my work with clients is also a part of the evolution you speak of. Thank you!!

Comments continue below

Anonymous | 10:48 a.m. June 15, 2009

I have long thought that the way women are treated is directly reflected in the way society runs. I wonder if there is data that reveals how the dynamics in a home, i.e. the actual behavior, allows this trend. It would be interesting to know why men feel it is their right, out side of an Islamic culture, to mistreat and abuse women. I wonder if it has to do with the generic desire for men to have power and control or if it has something to do with the innate generic nature of women to be nurtures and submissive because of their need for protection because they are the primary protector and supervisor of children.

In any case, I appreciate the data that has been accumulated to establish what women all over the world understand instinctively. Thank you Professor Hudson.

Vickie H

Vickie Harris

Zoneseek | 11:13 a.m. June 15, 2009

Thank-you Deseret News for running this article! I believe that one great way to a democracy in any country is to educate women-not only to teach them that they have rights, but to give them academic education so they can support themselves and their children. I hope this issue showing a correlation between violence towards women and war is studied further. She is really on to something.

Anon | 12:16 p.m. June 15, 2009

Dr. Hudson's contributions here are truly inspiring. Thank you for publishing this article!

Meurly | 12:34 p.m. June 15, 2009

Fascinating! I wish Dr. Hudson well in her quest and thank Deseret News for spreading the word.

Let see, | 12:59 p.m. June 15, 2009

. . . this study found that the way a society treats its most vulnerable citizens is predictive of the way it will treat it neighbors.

Duh!

Correlation or causation? | 2:24 p.m. June 15, 2009

I haven't read the study, but it seems that we need to understand exactly what Dr. Hudson is arguing in her study. She may be arguing that violence against women and war are correlated, which would make sense, because a society dominated by men for whom violence against women is a trivial concern would also seem more likely to take the same cavalier attitude towards the rights and liberties of foreign states. However, if she is arguing a causal relationship, I would be interested to know whether she is arguing that violence against women causes a physiological change in the brain that would lead to increased aggression.

PP | 8:22 p.m. June 15, 2009

I think one of the worst things in the world is abortion, and when you pair it with gender specific abortion it just gets worse.

That said, I am totaly opposed to misrepresenting "facts" just to try and prove a point.

The comment that in 2005 10 mill more were lost than in a century of war is grosly innacurate. The 10 mill assumes all living women from baby to grandma, so it's a 60 year range...not 1. Next, the data is an extrapolation of everyone that a researcher (not Dr.H) thought should be alive, including people that died of natural causes, and it ignores similar male deaths. Maybe Dr.H explains this in her research and it is the fault of the DesNews, but lying in research brings all the research into question.

However, I think one person dying this way is beyond reprehensible. My issue is only with scientific honesty, not the terrible things that do in fact happen.

PP 2 | 11:22 p.m. June 15, 2009

Dear PP - to suggest that a researcher is lying without having read her work is a big problem. I know you try to dance around this in your language but I would prefer to give Dr. Hudson the benefit of the doubt before using such stong language. A well-trained critical eye would always go to the source before making such statements.

Lance LeVar | 12:59 p.m. June 16, 2009

I think it is pretty obvious that she is speaking of correlation not causation with her statement "We're hoping for a spirited investigation of this thesis."

She knows that her data comes not from an experiment but a study which can only prove correlation.

This study is designed to promote discussion and more research on the subject.

RB | 8:53 a.m. June 17, 2009

Y. researcher finds war link to the treatment of women

This Headline is either deceiving or flat out wrong.

The "research" fails to link or explain:

The Vietnam War
WWII
WWI
The Spanish American War
The American Civil War
The War of 1812
and
The American Revolution

I have questions... | 9:29 a.m. June 17, 2009

I have not traveled the world and have depended on others who have to tell us the way it really is but lately I have come to question all of it especially our view of how other women in the world are treated especially as a reason to go to war. I have recently met a young woman from Iraq who is a refugee and has lived here for about a year. I asked her about how the women are treated over there and got an entirely different response. I was surprised to hear her talk about how her father protected her and the deep love and respect she had for the men in her life and they had for her. It upset her to see the young women in America so immodest with very few morals. She talked about her belief in marriage and how they don't believe in divorce, abortion, sex before marriage. Their families are strong but the war has pulverized them. I feel bad but I don't believe we can hold America up as the example anymore.

Anonymous | 6:03 p.m. June 17, 2009

This conclusion has many holes.

For example -
By using this sort of reasoning, a "war in heaven" would be caused by a Father in Heaven beating and/or abusing his wife.

My point here is to use caution to run to any false conclusions, use sound scientific methods and reasoning.
You can twist statistics to say anything you'd like them too.

Student in the Middle East | 10:01 a.m. June 18, 2009

Just a quick response to "I have questions." I am a girl studying Arabic in the Middle East for the summer. I came here thinking about the same thing, that we can't hold America up as an example anymore. As far as the treatment of women goes I have definitely been proven wrong. The relations between the sexes is not the picture of perfection. I take it as an unfortunate sign that my conservative friends, the ones that seem to be the kindest and most devout, move away when groups of boys begin to congregate near them. It is true that they do advocate good principles, but there are many problems I have experienced here that I have not experienced in America in relation to how men treat women.

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