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BreathandStone -> How To Lie Like A Coward (9/15/2010 6:31:33 PM)
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I wouldn't bother to respond to the OP (he seems to have no real substance save misogyny. Also, he thinks that I am stupid because I have bad hair) but people seem to be accepting at least some of his ridiculous assertions as fact, and that makes me sad. I happened to pull up the Wikipedia page on domestic violence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence) and, what a surprise, it refutes many of his claims. Also, from what I've looked at, the studies it cites are generally solid and feature good methodology, unlike the articles that the OP links to. Regardless, I encourage you to read the sources and draw your own conclusions.
"Domestic violence...can be broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship."
Note: if your girlfriends slaps you once, that isn't an example of domestic violence. If she hits you frequently, in concert with abusive patterns or behaviors, that might be domestic violence. Don't argue semantics about this one, or I'll argue that if a stranger comes into your home (a domestic setting) and hits you, that also counts as "domestic violence."
Also note: I have been hit non-consensually by a significant other. It was very much not okay, but I wouldn't trivialize actual abuse by calling what happened to me domestic violence.
"Women are much more likely to be murdered by an intimate partner. Among the persons killed by an intimate partner, about three quarters are female, and about a quarter are male."
"in a review of the research Michael Kimmel found that violence is instrumental in maintaining control and that more than 90 percent of "systematic, persistent, and injurious" violence is perpetrated by men."
"The simple tally of violent acts is typically found to be similar in those studies that examine both directions, but some studies show that men's violence may be more serious. Men's violence may do more damage than women's;[37] women are much more likely to be injured and/or hospitalized, wives are much more likely to be killed by their husbands than the reverse (59%-41% Dept of Justice study)"
"the National Institute of Justice states that the studies that find that women abuse men equally or even more than men abuse women are based on data compiled through the Conflict Tactics Scale, a survey tool developed in the 1970s and which may not be appropriate for intimate partner violence research because it does not measure control, coercion, or the motives for conflict tactics; it also leaves out sexual assault and violence by ex-spouses or partners and does not determine who initiated the violence. Furthermore, the NIJ contends that national surveys supported by NIJ, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics that examine more serious assaults do not support the conclusion of similar rates of male and female spousal assaults. These surveys are conducted within a safety or crime context and clearly find more partner abuse by men against women."
Obviously, I'm cherry-picking. Both men and women are victims of domestic violence, which may be perpetrated by either gender. And both deserve resources to deal with that violence. However, women find themselves in dangerous abusive relationships far more often than men do - and so, yes, there are more resources devoted to helping them.
One final word: I think most men are great. Some of the people I love and respect most in this world are men. But this doesn't change the fact that, as a rule, they have greater privileges than otherwise equal women.
I am a feminist.
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