Please see revised version of this article.

by Henry Makow Ph.D.

In the opening scenes of The Philadelphia Story (1940) Cary Grant is leaving his wife played by Katherine Hepburn. She breaks his favorite golf club over her knee. He reacts by throwing her to the ground. The 1940's audience thought nothing of it. But today, Katherine Hepburn, or a neighbor, could call the police and have Cary Grant arrested for "domestic assault." Today no man can annoy a woman, let alone leave her, for fear of charges (real or false) that may result in jail, legal bills, and the loss of family, property and even job.

These onerous penalties are the result of the "zero tolerance policy" that many cities have adopted due to pressure from feminist activists. The policy states that any physical contact, even a tug on a sleeve, is "domestic assault." The charge is made by the state, not by the victim. Ostensibly this policy is designed to protect women from violent abuse but in fact, women are arrested too. The real effect and purpose is to politicize domestic relationships and to persecute normal heterosexual activity.

In Winnipeg, Canada, where I live, approximately half the 1200 man police force is permanently engaged in answering domestic calls. "To me that statistic is staggering," police Chief Jack Ewatski, told the Winnipeg Free Press (July 20). "It puts a significant stress on our ability to police the city in other areas." In this city of 600,000, almost half the inmates at the local "Remand Center" are there for so called "domestics."

On Monday mornings I interview people at the Courthouse for my web site zerotolerancesucks.com . Based on about 35 random interviews, I have found that the fights are usually trivial. The people charged are usually poor and alcohol is often a major factor. Many called the police for help to defuse the situation and were shocked to be arrested, finger printed and jailed. Many missed work and lost their jobs. Some are arrested just for having an argument. Neighbors report them.

One couple was drinking on St. Patrick's Day, argued and pushed each other. The male left but the female phoned police about his driving under the influence. The police arrested her for pushing him. They said she "didn't know what she was doing when she gave her statement." Later, at another address, the male was awoken by a loud knock in the middle of the night. He was arrested for a crime he didn't even know he had committed and taken to the police station.

"Sometimes I deserve a smack," the male told me. "She gave me one. I pushed her out of the way and left. We're fine. We're a normal couple. We had one rough night. No one was hurt. No one charged anyone."

Another man hurt the knock at 2 a.m. He had broken up with his girlfriend earlier that night. She charged him with holding her arms to prevent her from hitting him. He has hefty legal bills and risks losing his job because of a criminal record.

Another man told me: "It's supposed to be a free country but it don't seem free any more." Other signs of the creeping police state: Often neighbors report couples who are only arguing. "The walls are thin," many people said. A couple was arrested even though they had witnesses to vouch that they were not fighting. Sometimes the couple doesn't know who informed on them. This is reminiscent of Communist countries where every block has a "captain" to ensure politically correct behavior.

Usually, the woman tries to have the charges dropped. She misses her mate and needs his help with the children. But the State usually insists on prosecuting.

The bias seems to be against men. Often police will refuse to accept a charge made by a man. One man who complained his wife bit his finger was told: "What was your finger doing in her mouth?" Another man was told to "take it like man." Another, who had a big scratch across his chest was told "it wouldn't look good" if he made a charge. A defense lawyer told me: "The women call the shots."

Often women will make false charges to hurt a male or to keep him away from his children. "Women are making false charges like crazy to get at men," a legal aid lawyer said. Many men report being charged after they ended the relationship. One man was prevented from going to the family business, and subsequently lost it. His wife decided that it was time to report a scuffle that had occurred three months earlier.

There is disturbing evidence that the police act directly at the behest of feminist activists. ln the last few months, these activists have appeared in the media to complain that men are counter charging. They complained that the Courts have tended to drop cases where charges cancel each other out. A defense lawyer tells me that police have recently been given discretion to reject counter charges from men only. In other words, the policy is blatantly discriminatory. In a fight, a woman can appeal to the law but a man cannot.

Generally, the policy undermines male leadership. One man reports that his wife got upset when he criticized her for being lazy. Her neighbors said, "Teach him a lesson." So she called the police and charged him with slapping her. He was arrested. "Now we want to be together but we can't," he says. "She is very upset and sorry."

But the police are capricious and will charge women. One mother of four on social assistance slapped her common-law husband when he said he cared nothing about the children. He pushed her against a wall and she called police. They arrested only her. "That's what I get for being honest," she said. "I don't know why I'm being persecuted." Another woman was arrested after her boyfriend complained she wouldn't return his stuff. They found out she had tapped him with a shower curtain rod and charged her.

Another woman was not impressed with the protection even this draconian policy provides. "My ex boyfriend was calling me from jail. He was out in two days and bothering me. What's the point of calling the police? It's not worth the trouble."

One thing is sure: In the crush of trivial cases, women or men in genuine danger will be overlooked. In the past, police had the discretion to act only in serious cases. Now, they have no choice. As for feminist activists, they don't care about saving women (who are sleeping with 'the enemy') but rather about exploiting them for political purposes. They are making male-female love a perilous enterprise. The zero tolerance policy runs counter to fundamental principles of justice. A crime (i.e. injury) must take place before someone is arrested and jailed. There should be a presumption of innocence. Trivial acts like slaps should not be treated as crimes. There should be evidence not just one person's word.

How did we get into this mess? Feminists created hysteria and stampeded politicians into making this policy. The politicians don't appreciate that feminism is dedicated to creating a gender-less society by destroying the institutions of heterosexuality, including marriage and the nuclear family. Heterosexuals should wake up to the fact that we have been under sustained attack for about 40 years. It is no coincidence that the roles of wife and mother have become stigmatized. It is no accident that in the modern era, men have been consistently demonized as either weak and ineffective or as brutal immoral rapists.

Feminism killed the Roman Empire because women stopped having children. There was no one left to fight the barbarians. Feminism will kill us in the same way. (See: Amaury de Reincourt, Sex and Power in History) Children are the future. If we don't invest in them, our values and presence are lost. Since the recent onslaught of feminism in 1960, our birthrate has dropped from 3.9 children per woman to 1.5. That's a 60% decline in two generations. Replacement is 2.2.

The birthrate is a symptom for something far more profound. The failure of men and women to form permanent relationships has demoralized society. Heterosexuals are stalled, acting like teenagers far into their middle age. If we could measure the toll of personal suffering, we would see an emotional and spiritual holocaust. Perhaps a better metaphor is famine because we are love starved and stunted. What is not fed, does not grow.

Feminist activists have poisoned male-female relations. They use domestic violence, as well as rape and sexual abuse, to traumatize young women and turn them against men. Feminists want women to deny their natural instincts and take on the male sex role instead. Both sexes are losing their identities and this is creating massive sexual dysfunction.

Domestic violence was never a problem before feminism made it one. It isn't a problem today. For example, in Canada according to the 1999 General Social Survey, only 7% of people married or common law experienced "some type of violence" within the previous five years. These are almost evenly divided between men and women. The rate of spousal homicide for wives is 7 per million. In the U.S., the murder rate for wives/girlfriends is between 1 and 4 /1000th of one percent depending on race.

For the majority of heterosexuals, a successful family is a requirement for happiness and fulfillment. It is necessary for the future of life on this planet. As heterosexuals, we are victims of an insidious campaign of social engineering, which amounts to sexual persecution. Our children and we are taught that our natural instincts as males and females are unnatural and wrong. It's time we said: "enough."