Erin Pizzey
Encyclopedia
Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey (née
Carney, born 19 February 1939, daughter of a diplomat
) is a British family care activist and a best-selling novelist. She became internationally famous for having started one of the first Women's refuges (called women's shelter
in the U.S.
) in the modern world, Chiswick Women's Aid, in 1971, the organisation known today as Refuge. However, Pizzey reports that she has been the subject of death threats and boycotts because of her conclusion that most domestic violence is reciprocal, and that women are equally as capable of violence as men.
and one of 17 children from a poor Irish family. The family moved to Shanghai
and were captured by the invading Japanese Army
in 1942 and exchanged for Japanese Prisoners of war.
, West London where abused women were offered tea, sympathy and a place to stay for them and their children. Pizzey later opened a number of additional shelters despite hostility from the authorities. Pizzey's crucial pioneering work and determined campaigning was widely praised at the time. In 1975 MP Jack Ashley
stated in the House of Commons that, "The work of Mrs. Pizzey was pioneering work of the first order. It was she who first identified the problem, who first recognised the seriousness of the situation and who first did something practical by establishing the Chiswick aid centre. As a result of that magnificent pioneering work, the whole nation has now come to appreciate the significance of the problem".
Pizzey said that militant feminists - with the collusion of Labour's leading women - hijacked her cause and used it to try to demonise all men, not only in Britain, but internationally. After the hijacking the demand for a service for women survivors of domestic violence grew and soon public funding became available. Today the movement has been rebranded as Women's Aid
and garners millions of pounds a year from a variety of sources, the primary one of which is the state. Pizzey has lamented that the movement she started had moved from the "personal to the political".
Soon after establishing her first refuge, Pizzey realised that much domestic violence was reciprocal, with both partners abusing each other in roughly equal rates. She reached this conclusion when she asked the women in her refuge about their violence and she concluded that most of the women were equally as violent or more violent than their husbands. In her study "Comparative Study Of Battered Women And Violence-Prone Women," (co-researched with Dr. John Gayford of Warlingham Hospital), Pizzey distinguishes between "genuine battered women" and "violence-prone women;" the former defined as "the unwilling and innocent victim of his or her partner's violence" and the latter defined as "the unwilling victim of his or her own violence." This study reports that 62% of the sample population were more accurately described as "violence prone." Similar findings regarding the mutuality of most domestic violence have been confirmed in hundreds of subsequent studies.
In her book Prone to Violence (full text available online) Pizzey has argued that many of the women who took refuge had a personality such that they sought abusive relationships. Pizzey describes such behaviour as akin to addiction
. She speculates that high levels of hormones and neurochemical
s associated with pervasive childhood trauma lead to adults who repeatedly engage in violent altercations with intimate partners despite the physical, emotional, legal and financial costs, in unwitting attempts to simulate the emotional impact of traumatic childhood experiences. The book contains numerous stories of disturbed families alongside a discussion of the reasons why the modern state care-taking agencies are largely ineffective.
Some internet sources make the claim that Prone to Violence was suppressed by feminists, citing a 1996 search of all libraries in the world that could be accessed from the US Library of Congress
through the Inter-Library Network that allegedly revealed a total of only thirteen listings worldwide. A 2010 WorldCat
search shows that at least 43 libraries in the world hold the book.
Pizzey says it was after death threats against her, her children, her grandchildren, and the killing of her dog, all of which she states were perpetrated by feminist activists, that she left England for North America. She returned to London in the 1990s where her insights were sought by politicians and family pressure groups.
.
for libel over content in the Andrew Marr
book A History of Modern Britain. The publication had falsely claimed she had once been part of the militant group The Angry Brigade
that staged bomb attacks in the 1970s. The publisher also recalled and destroyed the offending version of the book, and republished it with the error removed. The link to the Angry Brigade was made in 2001, in an interview with The Guardian
, in which the article states that she was "thrown out" of the feminist movement after threatening to inform police about a planned bombing by the Angry Brigade of the clothes shop Biba
, "I said that if you go on with this - they were discussing bombing Biba [the legendary department store in Kensington] - I'm going to call the police in, because I really don't believe in this."
Jack Pizzey when she was 20, first meeting in Hong Kong
. They had two children. Pizzey lives in South London
, she was diagnosed with cancer
in 2000.
In 2000 Pizzey's grandson Keita Craig, a schizophrenic, committed suicide
in a prison cell
. Pizzey and his family campaigned against the coroner's verdict of death by hanging
and in 2001 a jury at a second inquest found unanimously found that his death was contributed to by the neglect of prison staff. The case was the first ever to reach a finding of neglect
in a suicide case.
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Carney, born 19 February 1939, daughter of a diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
) is a British family care activist and a best-selling novelist. She became internationally famous for having started one of the first Women's refuges (called women's shelter
Women's shelter
A women's shelter is a place of temporary refuge and support for women escaping violent or abusive situations, such as rape, and domestic violence....
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) in the modern world, Chiswick Women's Aid, in 1971, the organisation known today as Refuge. However, Pizzey reports that she has been the subject of death threats and boycotts because of her conclusion that most domestic violence is reciprocal, and that women are equally as capable of violence as men.
Early life
Pizzey was born in Tsingtao (now Qingdao), China in 1939. Her father was a diplomatDiplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and one of 17 children from a poor Irish family. The family moved to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and were captured by the invading Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
in 1942 and exchanged for Japanese Prisoners of war.
Overview
She began in Belmont Terrace, ChiswickChiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
, West London where abused women were offered tea, sympathy and a place to stay for them and their children. Pizzey later opened a number of additional shelters despite hostility from the authorities. Pizzey's crucial pioneering work and determined campaigning was widely praised at the time. In 1975 MP Jack Ashley
Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke
Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke, CH PC , is a Labour member of the United Kingdom House of Lords. He was Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent South for 26 years, from 1966 to 1992....
stated in the House of Commons that, "The work of Mrs. Pizzey was pioneering work of the first order. It was she who first identified the problem, who first recognised the seriousness of the situation and who first did something practical by establishing the Chiswick aid centre. As a result of that magnificent pioneering work, the whole nation has now come to appreciate the significance of the problem".
Pizzey said that militant feminists - with the collusion of Labour's leading women - hijacked her cause and used it to try to demonise all men, not only in Britain, but internationally. After the hijacking the demand for a service for women survivors of domestic violence grew and soon public funding became available. Today the movement has been rebranded as Women's Aid
Women's Aid
Women's Aid is a group of feminist charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, one for each country. Its aim is to end domestic violence against women and children...
and garners millions of pounds a year from a variety of sources, the primary one of which is the state. Pizzey has lamented that the movement she started had moved from the "personal to the political".
Soon after establishing her first refuge, Pizzey realised that much domestic violence was reciprocal, with both partners abusing each other in roughly equal rates. She reached this conclusion when she asked the women in her refuge about their violence and she concluded that most of the women were equally as violent or more violent than their husbands. In her study "Comparative Study Of Battered Women And Violence-Prone Women," (co-researched with Dr. John Gayford of Warlingham Hospital), Pizzey distinguishes between "genuine battered women" and "violence-prone women;" the former defined as "the unwilling and innocent victim of his or her partner's violence" and the latter defined as "the unwilling victim of his or her own violence." This study reports that 62% of the sample population were more accurately described as "violence prone." Similar findings regarding the mutuality of most domestic violence have been confirmed in hundreds of subsequent studies.
In her book Prone to Violence (full text available online) Pizzey has argued that many of the women who took refuge had a personality such that they sought abusive relationships. Pizzey describes such behaviour as akin to addiction
Behavioral addiction
Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction or non-substance-related addiction ) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences...
. She speculates that high levels of hormones and neurochemical
Neurochemical
A neurochemical is an organic molecule, such as serotonin, dopamine, or nerve growth factor, that participates in neural activity. The science of neurochemistry studies the functions of neurochemicals.-Prominent neurochemicals:...
s associated with pervasive childhood trauma lead to adults who repeatedly engage in violent altercations with intimate partners despite the physical, emotional, legal and financial costs, in unwitting attempts to simulate the emotional impact of traumatic childhood experiences. The book contains numerous stories of disturbed families alongside a discussion of the reasons why the modern state care-taking agencies are largely ineffective.
Some internet sources make the claim that Prone to Violence was suppressed by feminists, citing a 1996 search of all libraries in the world that could be accessed from the US Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
through the Inter-Library Network that allegedly revealed a total of only thirteen listings worldwide. A 2010 WorldCat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...
search shows that at least 43 libraries in the world hold the book.
Pizzey says it was after death threats against her, her children, her grandchildren, and the killing of her dog, all of which she states were perpetrated by feminist activists, that she left England for North America. She returned to London in the 1990s where her insights were sought by politicians and family pressure groups.
Current work
Pizzey is still actively working to help victims of domestic violence. She is a patron of the charity Mankind InitiativeMankind Initiative
The ManKind Initiative is a domestic violence charity based in the United Kingdom and is at the forefront of providing support for male victims of domestic abuse and violence...
.
Libel case
In 2009 Pizzey successfully sued Macmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
for libel over content in the Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
book A History of Modern Britain. The publication had falsely claimed she had once been part of the militant group The Angry Brigade
The Angry Brigade
The Angry Brigade was a small British militant group responsible for a series of bomb attacks in Britain between 1970 and 1972.-History:During the summer of 1968 there were a number of demonstrations in London against the American involvement in the Vietnam War, centred on the American Embassy in...
that staged bomb attacks in the 1970s. The publisher also recalled and destroyed the offending version of the book, and republished it with the error removed. The link to the Angry Brigade was made in 2001, in an interview with The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, in which the article states that she was "thrown out" of the feminist movement after threatening to inform police about a planned bombing by the Angry Brigade of the clothes shop Biba
Biba
Biba was an iconic and popular London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. It was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.-Early years:...
, "I said that if you go on with this - they were discussing bombing Biba [the legendary department store in Kensington] - I'm going to call the police in, because I really don't believe in this."
Personal life
Pizzey married Naval LieutenantLieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Jack Pizzey when she was 20, first meeting in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. They had two children. Pizzey lives in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
, she was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 2000.
In 2000 Pizzey's grandson Keita Craig, a schizophrenic, committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in a prison cell
Prison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
. Pizzey and his family campaigned against the coroner's verdict of death by hanging
Death by hanging
Death by hanging may refer to:* Hanging* Death by Hanging, a 1968 film by Nagisa Oshima...
and in 2001 a jury at a second inquest found unanimously found that his death was contributed to by the neglect of prison staff. The case was the first ever to reach a finding of neglect
Neglect
Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a perpetrator is responsible to provide care for a victim who is unable to care for himself or herself, but fails to provide adequate care....
in a suicide case.
Nonfiction
- Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear
- Infernal Child (an early memoir)
- Sluts' Cookbook
- Erin Pizzey Collects
- Prone to violence ISBN 0-600-20551-7 Out of print; full-text available online
- Wild Child
- The Emotional Terrorist and The Violence-prone ISBN 0-88970-103-2 (excerpt)
Fiction
- The Watershed
- In the Shadow of the Castle
- The Pleasure Palace (in manuscript)
- First Lady
- Counsul General’s Daughter
- The Snow Leopard of Shanghai
- Other Lovers
- Swimming with Dolphins
- For the Love of a Stranger
- Kisses
- The Wicked World of Women
- The Fame Game (work in progress)
- The Lifestyle of an International Best selling Author
Awards
- International Order of Volunteers For Peace, Diploma Of Honour (Italy) 1981.
- Nancy Astor Award for Journalism 1983.
- World Congress of Victimology (San Francisco) 1987 - Distinguished Leadership Award.
- St. Valentino Palm d’Oro International Award for Literature, February 14, 1994, Italy.
External links
- Erin Pizzey website
- Erin Pizzey's Blog
- Interview With Erin Pizzey
- This Way To The Revolution, by Erin Pizzey
- Erin Pizzey -- Founder of Modern Women's Shelter Movement
- The Planned Destruction of The Family, by Erin Pizzey
- Erin Pizzey, crusader for battered women, by Brian Deer
- MenWeb - Men's Issues. Working with Violent Women by Erin Pizzey
- From the Personal to the Political by Erin Pizzey
- The Emotional Terrorist by Erin Pizzey
- Prone to Violence by Erin Pizzey
- Why Did My Grandson Die? Original title Fragile by Erin Pizzey
- How feminists tried to destroy the family, by Erin Pizzey