Women Get Off Easier?

I usually use this blog as a way to report about family law matters and issues which come up in the news. While the issues and stories about Lisa Nowak, the astronaut that is currently facing criminal charges over her actions in connection with an alleged love triangle, are not necessarily family law in the direct sense, they are indirectly related to family law. Many people are feeling sympathy for Nowak because of her high stress job and some have shown sympathy for her because she is a woman. I feel that there is a double standard when it comes to violent crimes or the potentially for the perpetration of a violent crime when we are dealing with women. I see this double standard in the context of family law in the form of injunctions and the enforcement of those junctions. Many times a man can feel not only threatened, but fearful of what a woman is capable of doing based on actions that have occurred in connection with a divorce or custody proceeding. These fears are often very real and in some jurisdictions are not taken seriously by a judge, based on the preconceived notions about a man's ability to protect himself against a woman. I believe that the sex of the petitioner should never come into play when an injunction is requested, and that the merits of the request and the truthfulness of the testimony of the petitioner should be the only basis to grant or deny a request for an injunction.