SAFE BlogArchive

A University of Ulster student who investigated domestic violence in same sex relationships has won this year's Science Shop award. The annual Science Shop event showcases the best research projects by students from UU and Queen's that have made a significant contribution to the community.

Cara McGrory - a Criminology and Criminal Justice student at the University%u2019s Jordanstown Campus - worked in partnership with Foyle Women's Aid and Rainbow to carry out her research.

''The problem of domestic violence among same sex partners has been hidden for many years,'' said Cara.

''Domestic violence has been defined as violence by men against women and children. Same sex domestic violence has been considered non-existent or the fault of the individual's sexuality. This research challenged the notion of abuse against the gay and lesbian community and argues that policy should be directed to providing the kind of help for abused members of the gay and lesbian community which until now has only been available to heterosexual women.''

A second blog entry on SAFE-NH and Coalition.

This is a blog entry from a reporter in New Hampshire who is getting a cold shoulder from the domestic violence coalition because she talked with the SAFE New Hampshire chapter president to get his side of the story.

This law professor was sued over an article she published, and the university refused to step in to defend her:

When Merle H. Weiner was hired as a law professor at the University of Oregon, she was told that one of her duties was to write articles and books -- and she did just that, publishing extensively on her areas of expertise, one of which is domestic violence.

The article was pulled from publication, even though the facts were apparently straight. This is disturbing for those who publish articles that may be controversial.

She said that the incident has hurt her ability to do her work on domestic violence and raises issues for any scholar who may publish on works that might lead someone to want to sue them.

This very recent fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control on domestic
violence re-affirms the 36%-of-DV-victims-are-men figure ("1.5 million
women, over 800,000 men") from the 1998 Violence Against Women Survey. As
Dr. Gelles and others explain, even this figure is low for various reasons,
and the more reliable studies consistently show 50% (see
www.ncfmla.org/gelles.html and http://www.ncfmla.org/dv_data.html).
Nonetheless, this is still very helpful as an updated re-affirmation of the
36% figure from the CDC.

Marc A.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r051025.htm

The report title:
Violence and Victims CDC Study Gender IPV Cost Aug 2005.pdf

For information on Ileana Arias, search her name at:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/whatsnew/whatnew.htm

The 2005 report is a contrast to the 2003 CDC report,
"Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States":
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/ipv_cost/ipv.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r030428.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/ipv_cost/IPVBook-Final-Feb18.pdf

To see where the journal, Violence and Victims, is coming from, see:
http://www.springerpub.com/JournalSamples/6708-20-2.pdf

I'd be interested in reading the WHO report they reference here. Every time I read research that reaches these conclusions, it always turns out to be poorly conducted advocacy research...

The United Nations today marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women with calls for states to take legal action against the global scourge, for societies to change a mindset that permits such abuse, and for women themselves to stand up and speak out against a culture of shame.

Yes, let's call for an end to violence against women, and after that perhaps we should call for an end to all family violence?

Here is a link to the original report:
http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/en/

Anyone have the time to take a look at it?

Another arrest for domestic violence husband slaps wife, boyfriend punches out girlfriend, 290-pound pro football player throws 120-pound woman from balcony same old story, right? The male is always the aggressor and the female is always the victim. Not necessarily. According to some surveys, government statistic's confirm that almost 40 percent of all domestic violence victims in the United States are men.

Police, probation service, health worksers and other government agencies are all involved in a pilot scheme to train workers to respond to male and female victims of domestic violence equally.

Groundbreaking!

Lee Newman, of SAFE New Hampshire, was also thanked in the report.

Nobody, it appears, cares for abused men. And abused men themselves are too ashamed to talk about being beaten up or manhandled by women. They see it as a further bruising to their battered ego.

That, perhaps, explains the closing down today of the only centre established to help abused and abusive men.

This is in from Stanley Green:

I attended the Domestic Violence Survivors’ Recognition Day event The
Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence Survivors’ Caucus,
of which I am a member.
http://wscadv.org/Networks/sis_page.htm

The event was held in the rotunda of the Washington State capitol in
Olympia.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/249050070/249051535BnreTu
http://community.webshots.com/album/249050070CJBcoa

Here is the newspapeer report of the event:
http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/NEWS01/510160333/1006

On display, indoors and outdoors on the steps of the capitol, were 20
newly-created female images in the Silent Witness Project.
On a board in the rotunda were 11 statements describing men who had been
murdered in domestic violence situations.

http://www.silentwitness.net/sub/photo_washington.htm

I spoke with Linda Olsen, Executive Director of the Eastside Domestic
Violence Program (EDVP).
http://edvp.org/AboutEDVP/default.htm
She told me that they are in the process of creating the life-size
wooden cutouts for these 11 male victims.
I thanked her for her use of inclusive language in her presentation and
that I appreciated the move towards inclusiveness which the male figures
in the updated Silent Witness Project represent.
She told me that her contact with me (I spoke at an EDVP event last
year) has been part of her inspiration for moving in this direction.

I found that the Silent Witness Project for Southwestern Washington
includes a male victim:
http://www.silentwitness.net/sub/photo_washington.htm

The following is a press release I received:

On October 28, 2005, near the end of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, four
men, including David Woods of Sacramento and his 21-year-old daughter,
Maegan Black, will file a class-action lawsuit in Sacramento against the
State of California and two state-funded domestic violence programs
(WEAVE in Sacramento, and DVSAC in Grass Valley), seeking to end the denial
of services to men and their children.

The men were denied state-funded services based solely on their gender.
Maegen Black says she was harmed by WEAVE's denial of services to her
father, having to witness years of violence by her mother against her
father that could have been avoided if her father received the services he
needed. Her mother, Ruth, has undergone counseling and now freely admits
she physically abused David in front of Maegan for years, even at
knifepoint. Ruth supports the lawsuit, stating that her violence could
recur anytime and that David will have no place to turn.

Children like Maegen are often the greatest victims in these cases,
according to attorney Marc E. Angelucci, who is representing the plaintiffs.
“When victims don't receive the help they need, the violence often
escalates, and children who witness it can be emotionally damaged." Studies
show the chances a woman will abuse her child increase every time she sees
her mother assault her father. (See, Heyman & Slep, Do Child Abuse and
Interparental Violence Lead to Adulthood Fam. Violence? (November 2003) J.
of Marriage & Fam., v. 64, issue 4, pp 864-70.)

More than 835,000 men are victims of domestic violence annually in the U.S.,
making at least 36% of the victims, according to the National Violence
Against Women Survey, sponsored by the Department of Justice.
http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/181867.txt . Most other studies show that women
initiate domestic violence as often as men do.
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm . Further, according to the California
Research Bureau, more than 4,000 men seek domestic violence shelter based
services every year in California. (See page 12 & 14 of report at
http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/02/16/02-016.pdf .)

But California Health & Safety Code § 124250 denies men the right to receive
state-funded services, including shelter, hotel vouchers, counseling and
court advocacy. Consequently, male victims are shut out of vital
state-funded services state-wide. The only exception is the Valley Oasis
shelter in Lancaster, which has defiantly sheltered both male and female
victims for over 10 years with no problems. Oasis' former director,
Patricia Overberg (patoverberg@aol.com), says she has seen men travel
hundreds of miles for services because nobody would help them, and that she
was subjected to "continuous abuse" by other shelter directors for helping
men. (http://www.ncfmla.org/pdf/overberg.pdf .) Angelucci believes hundreds of
other fathers and children could join the class-action lawsuit. The current
plaintiffs are from Los Angeles, Sacramento, Grass Valley and Sherman Oaks.

STATISTICS ON MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

"[A]pproximately 1.5 million women and 834,732 men are raped and/or
physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States"
(which means at least 36% of the victims are men), according to the National
Violence Against Women Survey, co-sponsored by the Department of Justice and
the Centers for Disease Control. http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/181867.txt

The Sheriff's Department of San Bernardino County, California confirms the
above figure on its website and also documents how female DV is serious and
is usually not in self-defense.
http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/sheriff/dvra/dom_viol_facts_main.htm

As for men seeking shelter services in California, this official California
government report from the California Research Bureau shows, on pages 12 and
14, that at least 4,649 men sought shelter-based domestic violence services
in 2003, and one shelter in Los Angeles reported even more male victims than
female victims seeking services.
http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/02/16/02-016.pdf

California State University maintains an online bibliography summarizing
over 100 studies/analyses which found: "women are as physically aggressive,
or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or
male partners." http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm One of them is the
most comprehensive analysis of existing research on DV ever done, which
confirmed that women initiate DV as often as men, and also found that 38
percent of physically injured victims are men and that self-defense does not
explain the female violence. (Prof. John Archer, "Sex Differences in
Aggression Between Heterosexual Partners: A Meta-Analytic Review,
Psychological Bulletin," November 2000. v. 126, n. 5, p. 651, 664.

In a University of Pennsylvania emergency room survey, 12 percent of men
reported being physically assaulted by a female partner within the previous
12 months, often with weapons or hard objects, and the male victims were
disproportionately black males with no health insurance.
http://www.aemj.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/8/786

For a scholarly analysis of the data on male victims, the historical
suppression of the data, and a solid refutation of the arguments made by
feminists who want to minimize and downplay male victims, see Professor
Linda Kelly's excellent law review article, "Disabusing the Definition of
Domestic Abuse; How Women Batter Men and the Role of the Feminist State," 30
Florida State Law Review 791 (2003), at
http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/lawreview/downloads/304/kelly.pdf

A Canadian government report highlights some of the key data showing women
initiate domestic violence at least as often as men do.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/familyviolence/pdfs/Intimate_Partner.pdf

Patricia Overberg, former director of Valley Oasis, has a sworn declaration
about what happened when her DV shelter began helping male victims as well
as female victims. http://www.ncfmla.org/pdf/overberg.pdf

"[C]ontrary to the claim that women only hit in self-defense, we found that
women were as likely to initiate the violence as were men. In order to
correct for a possible bias in reporting, we reexamined our data looking
only at the self-reports of women. The women reported similar rates of
female-to-male violence compared to male-to-female, and women also reported
they were as likely to initiate the violence as were men."
http://www.ncfmla.org/gelles.html

Even crime surveys, which are conducted by asking participants about "crime"
(and thus limit the figures only to DV that is seen as "crime"), now show
that at least 25% of DV is against men and that 25% of perpetrators are
women. http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/crimnet/pubs.htm#ibr

I didn't see it, and don't know of the date it aired, but I'm curious if anyone else did see. Any impressions of the show?

It is not just men who hit women. Women hit men, too. And the latest research shows that ignoring the role women play in domestic violence does both women and men a disservice.

This article uses an anecdote of one particular example of a person who appears to have been very abusive to his wife, but claims he was a battered men, and decides that ALL battered men are hoaxes.

Wow.

Instead of looking at the obvious power and control issues of who actually controlled the relationship, we are presented with an amazing generalization.

EDMONTON -- Husbands and boyfriends are abused by their partners far more often than most Canadians realize, yet there is virtually no support for battered men, attendees of a two-day conference heard.

"All we hear about is violence against women and children," said Grant Brown, an Edmonton lawyer who helped organize the conference for the Gender Issues Education Foundation.

"They just ignore the fact that men are just as likely to be victims of domestic violence ... They just refuse to address the issue."

While women are more often victims than men, Donald Dutton, a forensic psychologist at the University of B.C., said the number of men is not as small as many believe. He said his research indicates 4.2% of abused women and 2.6% of abused men report "repeated, severe battering."

EDMONTON -- Husbands and boyfriends are abused by their partners far more often than most Canadians realize, yet there is virtually no support for battered men, attendees of a two-day conference heard Saturday.

Here is a short version of my "opinion" regarding this article. If you are interested in the complete response to the newspaper,the reporter and to the Director of the women's crisis center ,New Beginings please e-mail me directly at lee@safe4all.org and I will forward you a copy.

“I am not sure whether Kathy Keller has read the entire Violence Against Women Act or not but maybe if she has, she sees it through the eyes of a woman who has not experienced the discrimination that VAWA encourages.” “VAWA helps only certain members of families, the female members.” “Not only are father’s discriminated against with VAWA but their sons are as well …young boys are “reprogrammed” by organizations funded by VAWA and sons who have attained a certain age are considered to be potential abusers and are then directly discriminated against.”
Does this “agenda” seem like it would more than likely attribute to tearing families apart or actually helping families in crisis?” Let’s consider for a moment…leave your husbands, fathers, brothers and sons out in a storm with no way to protect or shelter themselves and have all the female members of your family enjoy a warm shelter, food, a bed to sleep in and tell me that that would encourage family harmony??!!”
This happens with VAWA because there is no funding for shelters to house male victims of domestic violence or our sons who are over the age that individual organizations deem they are potential perpetrators rather than young male children!”
“I challenge Kathy Keller and other members of the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to explain in detail with proof that VAWA helps families in crisis more than harms them!”
“Keeping in mind of course that families are made up of both male and female members.”

Lee Newman
Executive Director: SAFE-NH

From this article, I found a couple of new resources for the SAFE resource list. The Dyn Project was already on there, and they serve heterosexual men as well.

This is from an editorial in the Washington Times:

While appearing to fight for a noble cause, the law does little to actually remedy domestic violence and does not address several original conference goals: It is not gender-inclusive, allocates funds under a flawed grant system, and ultimately promotes family breakup, not reconciliation. The legislation currently before both chambers of Congress purports to address the gender issue but offers ineffective or counterproductive language. For example, its gender bias can be seen in programs that will provide services for "disabled women and girls," while providing no funding for programs to provide services for disabled boys or disabled men.

A very well written letter to the editor, from a SAFE Media Corps member.

Excellent editorial

This article discusses the research on abuse against men in intimate relationships with a primary focus on the effects of this abuse. We begin by discussing the incidence of physical aggression against men, then address methodological and conceptual issues associated with the incidence data. We next review studies assessing the effects of aggression against men and discuss ways in which this research can be furthered and improved. Finally, we discuss why men would choose to stay in these relationships and consider the scant research on emotional abuse against men.

. . . myths persist that men are not victims of physical abuse, that
lesbians do not suffer serious injury from their partners and that
lesbians and gay men cannot physically dominate their partners as easily
as a man can dominate a woman, Holt said.

http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2393

Note below the Fund for the City of New York connexion:

- - -
Women's eNews is a nonprofit independent news service covering issues of
concern to women and their allies. An incubator program of the
International Institute for Community Solutions, Fund for the City of
New York, Women's eNews is supported by our readers; reprints and
licensing fees; and the International Institute for Community Solutions,
Fund for the City of New York; the Carnegie Corporation of New York; the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; the Barbara Lee Family
Foundation; the Open Society Institute; the Rockefeller Family Fund; The
Helena Rubinstein Foundation; the Sister Fund and the Starry Night Fund
of Tides Foundation. The donations from readers are critical to our
success. They are an important measure that we are serving our
audience--the yardstick that our foundation supporters will measure us
by.

Transcript of the O.J. Simpson trial, in which he describes both his violence and the violence of his spouse.

Overall a good article, although it didn't delve into the statistics showing that domestic violence against men is surprisingly common.

An editorial from Cathy Young on the Violence Against Women Act. Excellent.

(from AMEN, a group in Ireland that works with male victims of domestic violence):

On Tuesday 5th July the National Crime Council's (NCC), in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), published the first ever large scale study undertaken to give an overview of the nature, extent and impact of domestic abuse against women and men in intimate partner relationships in Ireland. Among the notable findings are :

• 15% of women and 6% of men suffer severe domestic abuse
• 29% of women and 26% of men suffer domestic abuse when severe and minor abuse are combined
• 13% of women and 13% of men suffer physical abuse
• 29% of women (1 in 3) and only 5% of men (1 in 20) report to the Gardai
• 49% of admissions to women's refuges are Travellers (according to the 2002 census Travellers account for just 0.6% of the entire population)
• Of those turned away from refuges, 46% were for reasons other than the refuges being full.

The results relating to gender prevalence broadly reflect the findings of the three other two-sex carried out in this country (for ACCORD; MRCS and the Department of Health).

The MRCS report, based on a survey of 530 clients, found that, where domestic violence occurs, mutual violence accounts for 33% of cases, female perpetrated violence accounts for 41% and male perpetrated violence for 26%.

Similarly, the ACCORD research, based on a survey of 1500 clients, found that women were perpetrators in 30% of domestic violence cases, men were perpetrators in 23% of cases and mutual violence accounted for 48%. An interesting feature of this study, which involved couples attending counseling, was that 84% of women and 74% of men agreed with their partner’s response to this question, suggesting that the self-reported prevalence is quite reliable.

According to the Government Departments (Health and Justice) who have responsibilities in this area, the NCC study is the definitive piece of research on domestic violence in this country. Less than 1% of Government funding for victims of domestic violence is given to provide services for male victims. It is imperative, therefore, that a substantial and immediate increase in funding for services for male victims be one of the Government's top priorities in responding to this research.

The National Crime Council study was based on a survey conducted by the ESRI of a nationally representative statistical sample of over 3000 adult women and men. The report was written by Dr. Dorothy Watson, Senior Researcher with the ESRI and Miss Sara Parsons, Research Officer with the National Crime Council. Mr. Padraic White, Chairman of the National Crime Council, said that “the National Study of Domestic Abuse was a pioneering one for Ireland in many ways – it covered physical, sexual and emotional abuse; it included both women’s and men’s experiences of domestic abuse and it used the most modern techniques to analyse the data. The National Crime Council embarked on this momentous study to get the most accurate possible measures of the hidden crimes that occur behind closed doors and which have a traumatic impact on victims”.

At the launch of the report Minister of State Frank Fahy said “I have no doubt that this report will be of immense value to the various Government Departments and non-Governmental organisations who are working to tackle the issue of domestic violence here in Ireland. One of the most useful resources that can be made available to everyone working in the field is evidence-based research such as this. This makes it possible to plan the best way forward with an awareness of the needs and realities that truly exist”.

Since Amen was set up in 1997, every single two-sex study has vindicated our position that a significant number of men are also victims of domestic abuse. Regardless of which statistics are considered the fact that less than 1% of all State funding for victims of domestic abuse goes to male victims is indefensible and this situation must be rectified immediately.

Contact: Frank McGlynn, National Secretary, Amen, St. Anne’s Resource Centre, Railway Street, Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland.

Tel Nos: 00 353 (0)46 9076864 or 00 353 (0)46 23718
or (mobile) 00 353 (0)87 2888277

An estimated 7% of women and 6% of men in a current or previous spousal relationship encountered spousal violence during the five years up to and including 2004, according to a comprehensive new report on family violence.

Billy Graham's daughter was arrested on domestic violence charges.

The Violence Against Women Act reauthorization was introduced in the senate today, sponsored by Biden, Hatch, and Spector.

Here are some links, courtesy of S. Green:

more info:
http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=238601&
http://judiciary.senate.gov/subcommittees/crime109.cfm

Here is SAFE official statement on VAWA, and what we recommend be changed in the act:

http://www.safe4all.org/essays/vawa2005

Here are some important links:

http://www.mediaradar.org/vawa_info/JEN05634_LC.PDF
the bill (266 pages!)

http://www.mediaradar.org/vawa_info/Two-pagerVAWA6.6.05.doc
2-page summary

http://www.mediaradar.org/vawa_info/VAWA Sec 6.6.05.doc
14-page summary

SAFE has produced a set of recommendations for changes to the Violence Against Women Act 2005 reauthorization.

You can read the recommendations by clicking on the link to the recommendations.

Why is this funny? Do the switcharoo. Can you imagine wearing a t-shirt that says: 'girl-beater?'.

This has links to the new Violence Against Women Act. No mention of abused men, and little mention of GLBT victims.

Interesting article:

# The study suggests physicians should have increased awareness about sexual abuse in boys as they are abused almost as often as girls.

# Physicians should be aware that men who were sexually abused as children can be at a greater risk for drug abuse, alcoholism, suicide, and troubled relationships, just like their female counterparts.

It's too bad this isn't gender-inclusive.

This is from the GMDVP.

After seeing graphic home footage of an alcoholic husband and a wife who
violently abuses him, Dr. Phil steps in. Steve and Sheila are high
school sweethearts whose lives seem normal from the outside. But cameras
in their home show Steve passed out on the floor on the verge of death,
while Sheila slaps, punches, kicks and stomps on him — in front of their
two little girls. Can they heal their family?
Thursday - 19 May, 2005
Alcohol and Abuse
http://www.drphil.com/show/cutw.jhtml

Do the switcheroo. Would it seem strange if she was interviewing a man who killed his wife because she was cheating on him?

Oprah talks to Clara Harris, woman who killed her husband!
Thursday April 28, 2005
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
(This event does not repeat.)
(The next reminder for this event will be sent in 1 day, 12 hours, 4 minutes.)
Event Location: Find time and station for your viewing area in our link list.

Notes:
Oprah Winfrey Show

04/28/05 Exclusive: Clara Harris, The Woman Who Ran Over Her Cheating Husband (PG)
On location from prison with the Texas dentist who ran over and killed her cheating husband. Clara Harris tells her side of the story.

Interesting.

Feminism is a powerful conceptual tool for critiquing traditional sociological research, but notions of conducting 'feminist research' may contain some unchallenged assumptions about who should be researched and which methodologies are used. Two key concepts within feminist research - empowerment of women and the equality of the research relationship - are interrogated in the light of research conducted on a population of women unsympathetic to feminism and constructions of gender. This research suggests that whilst there is a need to conduct gender-sensitive work, too orthodox a definition of feminist research may inhibit rather than facilitate research which could lead to helpful insights for women. A better strategy might be to site the conflict in epistemology, rather than methodology, and to define feminist research in terms of values which it might uphold rather than techniques it might use.

Doing feminist research on unsympathetic populations can lead to conflicts between the researcher and participant's construction of the meaning of gendered experience. Researchers can justify their accounts with reference to feminist 'successor sciences' which have been postulated as an alternative to traditional positivistic rationalism. In the context of this study both feminist standpoint theory and feminist postmodernism are considered as useful justifications for the decisions taken in the research.

Columnist Gemma Araneta writes a column on battered husbands in this article in the Manila Bulletin Online:

The first physically battered spouse I met was a tall, burly, white American, born and bred in the USA, veteran of the Vietnam War after which he was given a scholarship at some international university in Puebla City, Mexico.

(snip)

Kudos to the Arizona Republic, which printed an article yesterday that started out like this:

Domestic violence victims aren't distinguished by race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, education, economic status or gender. Victims include people such as Dawn Boeck, who was physically abused by her boyfriend; LaDona Carey, emotionally abused by her husband; and James A. Rogers, physically and emotionally abused by a girlfriend. Also, Mary, 60, her anonymous status sheltering her from a physically abusive son and emotionally abusive husband.

This is a very reasonable letter in support of abused men from a paper in Australia:

We should recognise that support for men victims of domestic and relationship violence is not easily sourced and many men fail to notify violence against them because of the cultural expectations that men are tough and can take it.

More on the effect of anti-gay-marriage laws on serving unmarried partners who are victims of domestic violence. It is affecting both gay and straight men and women.

"Domestic violence [rates] will drop dramatically only because you won't be able to charge live-in partners or same sex couples with domestic violence; it will have to be an assault. The assault crimes will go up, but the domestic violence crimes will drop dramatically," said Wood County Sheriff's Deputy Mary Ann Robinson.

An interesting article from the Wales:

The research, carried out by the University of Glamorgan also found that a quarter of the victims of domestic violence who were treated at Prince Charles Hospital, in Merthyr Tydfil, were male.

But similar work carried out in Israel suggests this is just the tip of the iceberg as equal numbers of men as women are assaulted within the home.

I'm curious about this study from Israel. The article didn't mention anything more about this study.

There has been a lot of press in Africa about the issue of abused men, with some saying that it doesn't happen or is insignicant, and some saying it's a very large unreported issue.

Research is showing that both men and women are equally prone to violence in their interpersonal relationships. I'd be very curious to see some research on domestic violence and gender in countries like Zimbabwe.

IT IS high time men came out of their cocoon shells and report all cases of harassment perpetrated on them by their partners.

There has been a steady increase of men who have been taking their lives following harassment and violence by their partners.

These government webpages acknowledge that domestic violence occurs against men, but mostly concentrates on abused women. It also completely ignores the case of gays and lesbians in abusive relationships.

We would encourage them to send a message that all domestic violence is important. I have read that workplace injuries happen disprortionately to men, because they tend to be in more dangerous fields of work. Yet, we wouldn't expect to see a government webpage on workplace injury emphasize that most injured workers are men. I'd expect them to treat all injuries seriously, depending on what the severity of their injuries are.

Yet at the same time, there are signs of progress. This webpage at least acknowledges that men can be abused in their relationships, and that they are deserving of services.

A bill has been introduced in the Ohio House to ensure that unmarried couples are not omitted from the state's domestic violence law. But the measure would broaden the law to include casual roommates.

The 26-year-old domestic violence law gives special protections to a spouse, former spouse or 'person living as a spouse,' either same-sex or opposite sex. Several judges have ruled, however, that Ohio's new constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage voids the last category by barring recognition of unmarried couples.

Interesting letter at Radford University's 'The Tartan'.

The Dyn Project is hiring someone to help them with issues faced by abused men.

The article states that:

Men between the ages of 18 and 24 with high school diplomas are most likely to be arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in Boulder County, according to a recently issued study of police reports.

Yet later in the report, it quotes Malsam:

''The main thing that causes domestic violence is the patriarchal nature of society,'' Malsam said. ''We just need to change society's belief that males are omnipotent.''

The theory that patriarchy causes domestic violence is one of a number of competing theories that try to explain domestic violence. It's not the one I subscribe to, as it does not explain the equal rates (not injuries) of domestic violence in heterosexual couples between men and women, or the prevalence of domestic violence in lesbian couples.

This is an excellent article by the Oregonian's columnist S. Renee Mitchell. In it, she points out:

Domestic abuse isn't directed only toward women; men are victims, too. It also shows up in same-sex relationships. In fact, it was a small group of lesbians from Portland who were at the forefront of a national movement to provide safe havens for women.

In Ohio, our laws are preventing gays and lesbians from receiving help if they are abused in their relationships. In England, however:

The Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 is the first time that lesbian and gay couples have been specifically included in legislation intended to curb violence in the home.

It allows same-sex couples to obtain restraining orders for the first time, and is aimed at ensuring lesbian and gay victims of abuse have access to the same protection as married couples.

Regardless of whether or not you approve of the "gay lifestyle", shouldn't we focus on the results? The result is going to be more violence in the US, and less in the UK.

Some mixed news from Uganda:

The good:

THE Uganda Women Lawyers Association (FIDA) has urged men who are victims of domestic violence to take advantage of its services.

The disappointing:

Kampire estimated the number of male victims of domestic violence at three percent, adding that such men suffer psychological, rather than physical violence.

The context:

Kampire was reacting to media reports that a man from Kasese district was battered by his wife into coma over sh10,000 during the Easter holiday.

It doesn't really seem like he was being battered psychologically.

It's good to see teen dating violence getting more attention, although unfortunately they're only talking about girls being abused, when there is ample research showing that both boys and girls are both violence as teenagers.

Marcus McTear was a star running back at Reagan High School in Austin, Texas. At 16, he was bright and popular and dreamed of college until a spring day in March 2003. The popular athlete stabbed his girlfriend, Ortralla Mosley, to death in a school hallway after she tried to break up with him.

Jill Murray is a SAFE Speaker, and an expert on teen dating violence, and was interviewed for this article.

The anti-same-sex marriage amendments are being used to reduce the sentences of abusers who are not married to their victims:

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart A. Friedman granted defendant Frederick Burk's motion to dismiss the domestic violence charges against him on March 23. He said the amendment makes those charges unconstitutional when the couple is not married.

Burk faced up to 18 months in prison for the charges, involving his girlfriend. Friedman reduced them to assault, which carries a maximum of six months.

Citing Ohio's ban on equal marriage rights, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge ruled that unmarried people cannot have domestic violence charges brought against them because of Ohio's new anti-gay marriage amendment.

Another letter to the editor (Belfast Telegraph) about AMEN in Ireland. AMEN offers services to abused men in Ireland.

A second judge in Cleveland has agreed that the state's new constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage also weakens the state's domestic violence statute.

On Thursday, Cleveland Municipal Judge Lauren C. Moore ruled that a man accused of physically abusing his live-in girlfriend could not be charged with domestic violence, because of Issue 1, which voters approved last fall. That amendment to Ohio's constitution says the state cannot give legal status to unmarried couples.

This is in reaction to a letter that Mary Cleary wrote to the Irish Examiner a couple of weeks ago. Mary Cleary is the founder of AMEN, a group providing domestic violence services for abused men in Ireland.

This is an excellent article on LGBT and domestic violence issues:

"People have a very rigid and gendered idea of what domestic violence looks like: Male power over women," explains Philadelphia attorney Lee Carpenter, "whether it comes from posters that say, "He doesn't have to hurt you,' or [phrases like] "battered women's syndrome.'" She credits the women's movement of the '70s and '80s with bringing partner abuse to the national consciousness, but explains the unforeseen downside: A lot of people in the LGBT community, experiencing what Joyce did, "don't even know that what's happening to them can be identified as domestic violence."

As noted in past articles on husband abuse, this silent crime of domestic violence and domestic abuse perpetrated by women against their intimate partners is more pervasive in our society than currently recognized or publicly acknowledged.

One of the things many advocates for abused women (as opposed to advocates for all victims) don't realize is that by focusing exclusively on battered women, they're leaving out a lot of other victims. This article's byline:

The reason why it is so hard to find out how many gay men are battered by their mates is that we'd rather not know about it.

Another story on abused men:

While most people think of domestic violence as being a problem between a male perpetrator and a female victim, there are other, less-noticed victims of abuse, according to those who counsel victims of abuse in San Joaquin County.

This is an old one, back from October of last year, but still of interest. A shelter in Rhode Island has changed its name to reflect the broadening of its services to same sex and heterosexual male victims, as well as teens and the elderly. Kudos to this shelter!

http://www.safe4all.org/resource-list/view/35409

Following a successful conviction in Salford, a gay man has recently been convicted of common assault on his partner, Barry Mould the first conviction at Crown Court in Manchester.

Greater Manchester Police are now urging other people in gay and lesbian relationships who are victims of domestic violence to contact them and make use of the support services available.

It's amazing to see an article like this. In Alberta, a domestic violence group called RESOLVE teamed up with Edmonton and Calgary police services to honors slain domestic violence victims -- well, some of them:

“They’ve created life-sized red wooden figures with each of them having a plaque telling the story of each woman. These women whose life ended because of family violence,” Luger said.

That sounds like a powerful testiment to the loss of these women's lives. Except later in the article:

Statistics show there were 31 victims of domestic homicide in Alberta between the years 2000 and 2004, with 23 female victims and eight male victims. Males were the perpetrators in 29 of those cases, while women were the cause of two.

We should be acknowledging the seriousness of all of these victims of domestic violence. Why are these eight male victims being left out?

I hope in future years, they acknowledge all victims of domestic violence. Other groups are.

You can write to the newspaper here:

http://www.hintonparklander.com/contact.php

This is a typical response from the more close-minded end of the feminist spectrum to claims that services for battered men are important. It is good reading if you want to understand where the most close-minded feminists are coming from.

Stop Abuse For Everyone has no hidden agenda with extending domestic violence towards abused men. We're not trying to divert money from women to men, to regain control of women, or any such nonsense.

And the studies we mention frequently are numerous, and convincing. What they show is that men and women are equally violent in their intimate relationships, but that men are less likely to report it, and on average, women are injured more often.

The problem is that if you read articles such as the one we link to, you'll come to the conclusion that he has handily dispatched the argument that men and women are equally violent, or that men are also deserving of services.

The aim of Stop Abuse For Everyone is to have services available to ALL victims, and to have those victims be treated as human beings, rather than categories such as man or woman, gay or straight. If men are injured less often, then they may be less deserving of services, but it should be done on a case by case basis, depending on the severity of their needs rather than who they are.

It's happening in Singapore too:

Distressed men like John made up a near-three-fold increase in the number of males applying for protection orders last year as compared to 1997, according to a study released by the Subordinate Court yesterday.

Last year, the number of men seeking protection was about 450, compared to about 161 in 1997, the study showed.

The study Faces of family violence: A profile study of family violence was based on a sample of 1,918 cases, picked randomly from the number of cases received in 2003 and last year.

Last year, the centre's Family Transformation and Protection Unit received 2,522 protection order applications. In 2003, it was 2,783.

Calling the increase in the number of men seeking protection orders "significant", the centre's director, Ms Annie Lee, said a lot of men could have suffered verbal abuse, threats or "actions that border on violence".

And some men have been at the receiving end of physical pain too.

"They scratch, they scream, they shout, they threaten," said Ms Lee, of abusive women.

One reason for the increase in male applicants could be heightened awareness.

"Men are more aware of their protection rights … they are more aware that they can complain," said Ms Lee.

Also, there might be more men who realise that it is not embarrassing to ask the court to protect them, she added.

A new document by the Canadian government discusses the issue of abused men, and how pervasive it is. It cites the SAFE website and two SAFE speakers.

The website also has other papers on abused women, abusive men, and same-sex victims.

This is a collection of downloads on domestic violence from a prominent research group in England, including Malcolm George.

It's an issue in South Africa as well.

Pretoria - A man who claims the Domestic Violence Act is biased against men had to watch his ex-fiancée and alleged attacker walk out of Pretoria magistrate's court a free woman on Monday.

This has some relevance to domestic violence issues, and I'm curious what the methodology for their study was. Unfortunately, it is not available on the internet as far as I can tell. Anyway read this study?

When the authors of this article undertook a study into the way the Australian legal process managed child abuse allegations in custody and access disputes following partnership breakdown in de facto and legal marriages, they encountered what they came to think of as ‘the child abuse and divorce myth’. The myth centred around a belief that child abuse allegations made during or after partnership breakdown were weapons fashioned to gain advantage in the marital war. Therefore, they were not real; therefore, they should not be taken seriously. Despite little previous research, these views were strongly held by both families and professionals. The article examines the myth, believed to be an international phenomenon, and shows, in detail, how the study's findings do not support it. In fact, the findings from this unique study contradict the myth in its totality and in its specific aspects. Thus, it is argued that the myth should be abandoned and a new knowledge base for professional intervention that recognizes the reality of this problem be adopted instead. As a result of the study, a new specialized intervention program for children involved in residence and contact disputes where child abuse was alleged is being trialled in the Family Court of Australia. Hopefully, the introduction of further intervention programmes based on the reality of child abuse in these circumstances rather than on the myth will follow.

I have heard from many individuals (men and women) about false allegations of domestic violence being used for advantage in divorce situations. And I'm sure that there are some child abuse allegations that happen if there is an advantage to doing so. But I guess I can't really comment on this article without having read it.

I wonder what the top four days are? The superbowl is #5 in El Paso:

The El Paso Police Department tracks the days they tend to get the most calls and last year Super Bowl Sunday came in first for domestic violence arrests and ranked fifth for domestic violence calls.

Darnell Forte is accused of slapping a woman he lived with. To try to get a domestic violence charged overturned, his lawyer has raised a wider issue, claiming a conflict between Ohio's new constitutional amendment defining marriage and the state's domestic violence law.

Opponents of the amendment banning gay marriage, among the nation's broadest, feared the measure would be used to try to curtail all sorts of rights for unmarried people, and they say the domestic violence case in Cleveland is one such attempt.

It is a terrible incident, but it is encouraging to see these cases being treated as domestic violence:

A news release from Prattville Police  indicates Sandra Thompkins dragged her husband 415 feet to the bottom of the hill.  Smith says he saw it all and ran down the hill to see if he could help.