6. South Carolina: Where Men Murder Women and Legislators Don’t Care

On Tuesday, the Charleston Post and Courier released a seven part series on South Carolina's failure to take domestic violence seriously. The series is called 'Till Death Do Us Part' and shows why the state has the most murder rate of women at the hands of men. Many journalists interview more than 100 victims, counselors, police officers and judges to show the people fail to fight domestic violence. They blame much of this problem on both the conservative values and enthusiasm for guns. They write that Carolina is a state  “where men have long dominated the halls of power, setting an agenda that clings to tradition and conservative Christian tenets about the subservient role of women,” They also interviewed state House  Minority Leader J. Todd Rutherford, who refuses to support bills to increase the maximum penalty for domestic violence offenders , which is currently thirty days in jail. The maximum penalty for beating a dog is five years in jail. They also refuse keep guns out of the hands of the abusers. They also point out how religion can "inadvertently fuel this problem," because they teach women to be submissive,  that suffering is holy and divorce is sinful. In fact, most of the states with the higher rates of men killing women have the same religious and conservative culture (like Oklahoma and West Virginia). Of course, it is difficult to change the culture of a State, but some laws could be more enforced so that the victims of domestic abuse could be more protected. Hopefully in the future, South Carolina will realize that protecting dogs is important, but so is keeping the women safe. 

Amanda Marcotte, the author of this article, describes the series and it's purpose. She also backs up their arguments, using evidence of her own. She uses a more mature language, dedicated to a more serious, older audience. She also uses many quotes from important government officials to show that her evidence and claims are serious. She also shows that both the Democrats and Republicans are guilty of letting these laws split, and is not biased by either side. She also provides her own suggestions for how South Carolina's government can improve their laws by doing things like not allowing abusers to own guns or give the victims a chance to escape the financial and emotional hold their abusers have over them. In the last paragraph of her article, she expresses concerns for the women in South Carolina and hopes that the article will 'actually do something.' She ends on a sarcastic note, reminding the South Carolina government that their job is to not only to protect dogs, but women too.