A Russian newspaper columnist has suggested female victims of domestic violence should be “proud of their bruises” as it could lead to them having more sons.
The article has come to light as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on a controversial law that decriminalizes some forms of domestic violence.
In an article published on 1 February in Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, columnist Yaroslav Korobatov wrote about research that has said aggressive fathers have more male children.
Called, ‘From Evil Men Born Boys’, the article centers on the work of controversial London based psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa.
“For years, women who have been smacked around by their husbands have found solace in the rather hypocritical proverb, ‘If he beats you, it means he loves you!,’” writes Mr Korobatov.
“However, a new scientific study is giving women with irascible husbands new grounds to be proud of their bruises, insofar as women who are beaten, biologists confirm, have a valuable advantage: They’re more likely to give birth to boys!”
The line “proud of their bruises” is no longer on the web version of the article.
However, the New York Times claimed that a web archived version of the page shows the passage was in the original version of the article.
Furthermore, at the same time as the original line vanished, an additional sentence was added stating the paper is “strongly opposed to any kind of battering” because doing so is “immoral”.
The author conceded that aggressiveness was probably only one of “many factors” leading to the increased chance of male progeny.
Before the second world war, Korobatov wrote that France had more female than male births. However, with the end of the war the reverse happened due to raging hormones.
“Sex-hungry soldiers’ wives and their husbands returning from the front — these are the conditions that are necessary for the production of the boys,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, President Putin gave the final seal of approval to the decriminalization of some forms of domestic violence in a move condemned within Russia and overseas.
Beatings of spouses or children that result in bruising or bleeding, but not broken bones, will be liable to two weeks prison or a fine so long as incident only occur once per year.
Previously, the criminal acts carried a maximum two year jail sentence.
Each year about 14,000 women die in Russia at the hands of husbands or other relatives, according to a 2010 United Nations report.
Supporters of the law change, known as the ‘slapping law’ said it closed a loophole whereby the same level of violence was punished differently depending on whether it was perpetuated by a family member or stranger.
In addition, some religious leaders have said the state should keep out of family matters.
However, critics say it sends out a signal to abusers that the law is soft on family violence.
A specific law targeting domestic violence, that could have lessened the impact of the watering down of decriminalization efforts, is stalled in parliament and will likely not be passed.
“Passing these amendments and not passing the other law is another sign that our society refuses to take this problem seriously,” Alena Popova, and anti-violence campaigner told The Guardian.
On Wednesday British Prime Minister joined an international chorus of disapproval on the law change.
“I’m proud that in this country we have strengthened the law on domestic violence and violence against women and girls,” she told MPs.
“We see this as a retrograde step by the Russian government.”
This article was originally published in news.com.au
