UN Spotlight Initiative: ‘Feminist Scholarship’ Strikes Again

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Contact: Henry Herrera

Telephone: +1-301-801-0608

UN Spotlight Initiative: ‘Feminist Scholarship’ Strikes Again

July 7, 2025 – Last week reality TV star Tamika Chesser appeared in court for the alleged murder and decapitation of her former partner, Julian Story. Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke revealed to the shocked judge, “I can tragically say that we have not recovered the head of Julian Story.” (1)

Female domestic violence is not a trivial problem. In some countries, partner violence by women is believed to have reached epidemic levels (2). Indeed, leading researchers have documented how globally, female domestic violence is as commonplace, or even more widespread, than male-perpetrated domestic abuse (3).

But for years, the United Nations has embraced a narrative that white-washes the problem (4). Now, a new UN report combines domestic violence falsehoods with climate change fantasy, bringing “make-believe” to a new level of incredulity.

“Colliding Crises: How the Climate Crisis Fuels Gender-Based Violence” (5) is designed to advance the UN’s controversial Spotlight Initiative (6). The new report makes numerous assertions that are calculated to play on the reader’s emotions. but are presented without a shred of evidence or proof:

“Before the end of the century, 1 in 10 cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) will be linked to climate change.” – Page 3
“There is evidence that climate change increases the severity and number of women and girls experiencing violence.” – Page 4
“By 2090, an additional 40 million women and girls will likely experience IPV each year in a 2°C warming scenario.” – Page 5

Even more bizarre, the Spotlight Initiative makes this claim on its website: “Spotlight Initiative’s comprehensive approach to eliminating violence against women and girls can be 70 to 90 per cent more effective than project-based or siloed approaches” (7).

But the European Court of Auditors reached the opposite conclusion. “There is no evidence of violence against women and girls having decreased in the various countries covered by the Spotlight Initiative,” the EU auditors wrote in 2023. (8)

So Spotlight’s claim of its programs being “70 to 90 percent more effective” is not simply an exaggeration or misrepresentation. It’s a lie.

Persons need to recognize the pervasive problem of so-called “feminist scholarship.” In the words of advocate Adrienne Barnett of the University of London (9):

“Feminist research is not just about understanding society, it’s about changing society. It has emancipatory and liberatory goals for women.”
Scientific objectivity is an “unattainable and indeed undesirable goal.”
“We don’t go out and collect data; we create data.”

In other words, feminist researchers consider it acceptable to shun objectivity, fabricate data, and concoct one-sided conclusions, as long as they somehow support the “emancipatory and liberatory goals for women.”

“Colliding Crises: How the Climate Crisis Fuels Gender-Based Violence” represents a categorical rejection of science and a repudiation of the principle of human rights for all. UN Member-Nations should demand the prompt removal of this bogus report.

Contact the Spotlight Initiative: info@spotlightinitiative.org

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — consists of 190 member organizations from 39 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse polices are science-based, family-affirming, and gender-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/davia/