Domestic violence more likely from women
- report By Padraig O'Morain, Health and Children Correspondent
Women are more likely than men to perpetrate domestic violence, according to new research on Irish couples who seek marriage counselling.
The report, published yesterday, also found that domestic violence was one of the less important factors in marriage breakdown in the largely middleclass group studied.
It was produced by a team led by Dr Kieran McKeown, who has a distinguished reputation in social research and was commissioned by Marriage and Relationship Counselling Services, one of the main counselling organisations in the country.
In a survey of 530 clients of MRCS, the researchers found domestic violence occurs in almost half (48 per cent) of all relationships which are sufficiently troubled for one or both partners to seek counselling.
Where there is violence, about one-third (33 per cent) inflict violence on each other, "while female-perpetrated violence occurs in about four out of 10 couples (41 per cent) and male-perpetrated violence in a quarter of couples (26 per cent) leading us to conclude that women are more likely than men to be the perpetrators of domestic violence", the report's authors say.
They say the findings "do not tell us anything about the severity of the violence involved, the context, reasons or initiation of the violence or the extent of injuries resulting from it".
They cite research from the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand which, they say, shows that the "prevalence of domestic violence among men and women, both as victims and as perpetrators, is broadly similar for all types of violence, both psychological and physical, minor and severe. In addition, both men and women are about equally likely to initiate domestic violence and seem to give broadly similar reasons for doing so.
"However, it needs to be emphasised that the outcomes of domestic violence in terms of physical and psychological injuries tend to be considerably more negative for female victims than for male," they add.
International studies suggest "domestic violence probably occurs in about 10 to 20 per cent of all heterosexual relationships - with considerably higher prevalence rates for younger cohabiting couples - and tends to be severe in about one-third of all cases".
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2001/0614/fro3.htm
New York Post
THE HUSBAND BEATERS
By HALLIE LEVINE
CUSTODY WINNER:
Six-foot-6-inch George Courtney III, who claims he was abused by his wife, got joint custody of his sons, Justin (left) and Brandon, after a stormy marriage.
- Alan Solomon
July 9, 2001 -- More and more men are coming forward to admit they are the victims of spousal abuse - but men's-rights advocates say the number is still dramatically underreported.
A 1998 Justice Department study - the most recent on the subject - found that men account for 36 percent of all victims of domestic violence.
But John Middleton, executive director of the Brooklyn-based National Coalition for Men's Rights, says the number is higher and "growing by leaps and bounds."
"It's the battered-man's syndrome - he works two jobs, comes home, cleans the house, takes care of the kids on his day off, while his wife beats him and goes shopping," said Middleton.
David Burroughs, chairman of the Forum for Equity and Fairness in Family Issues in Fair Hill, Md., said, "Most men know that if they hit their partner, she's likely to be injured and police may be called."
"However, women know that if they hit their partner, he's unlikely to be injured or to call for help, and the police are unlikely to intervene. There's little deterrence."
George Courtney III, a 49-year-old environmental consultant from Albany, said he suffered his wife's abuse.
"My wife would get worked up into a rage, and if I didn't agree with her, she'd throw things - a glass, a clock - and slap me. Occasionally I'd go into another room and lock the door, but that just angered her even more. A couple of times she managed to bang the door down."
But the 6-foot-6 Courtney said he never thought of striking back at his 5-foot-10 wife.
"I was always raised not to touch or hurt a woman," he said, adding that he was worried about the effects seeing his wife's violence would have on the couple's two children, Justin and Brandon, now 7 and 9.
Three years ago, during divorce proceedings, he obtained an order of protection against her. But while he successfully won joint custody, he said most men aren't as lucky.
He recalled accompanying another abused husband to court during a custody battle.
"He had an entry from his wife's diary where she admitted trying to strangle him, and the judge dismissed that as immaterial to the case," said Courtney.
Sari Freedman, a father's-rights lawyer in Garden City, L.I., said men are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to spousal-abuse cases.
"Judges are automatically suspicious . . . because they believe that these men are large enough to defend themselves," she said.
"When a woman comes in and claims abuse, the instinct is to issue an order of protection because it's better to be safe than sorry. But a man won't get these same privileges."
The National Coalition for Men's Rights has begun offering classes for women.
Battered men fighting for help
Associated Press
As found in Red Deer Life; June 24, 2001, Page 21
NEW YORK (AP) - Battered men.
On the front lines of North America's gender wars, few phrases are more polarizing. That such men exist, suffering one-sided physical abuse from their female partners, is widely accepted. Almost every other aspect of the topic - including the numbers of abused men and the gravity of their plight - is heatedly disputed. It's a debate loaded with mistrust between the genders, with activists on each side seeing the issue as a prime example of the other sex grabbing for power, either by inflating the suffering of men or ignoring it.
Advocates for battered men cite academic studies asserting that women, although receiving the overwhelming share of victim-support services, engage in domestic violence as often as men.
Women's groups, and many domestic violence experts, challenge key aspects of those studies and insist that women are far more likely than men to suffer psychological trauma and serious injuries at the hands of their partners.
"Do women batter? Sure, but not very often," said Bonnie Campbell, who headed the Federal Violence Against Women office under former president Bill Clinton. "The more success we have as a society in highlighting violence against women, the more of a backlash we get," she said. "I view a lot of this talk about battered men as a significant part of the backlash."
Campbell, and others in the field, are proud of the huge strides made in the last 25 years in raising awareness about domestic abuse of women. But advocates for battered men argue that many of the programs have been politicized by feminist groups with anti-male agendas.
"What you have is government-sponsored sex discrimination," said Philip Cook, author of Abused Men:
The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence.
"It was appropriate that domestic-violence services and education primarily be focused on women in the '70s and '80s. But now it's time to turn on the rest of the lights on the stage and see who else is out there."
In Minnesota, a group of men has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, seeking to quash the state's Battered Women's Act on grounds it discriminates against men. Cathy Young, a columnist and author often critical of feminist organizations, contends that the staff at many battered women's shelters emphasizes feminist consciousness-raising over practical services.
"Obviously, there are instances of unilateral battering by men, and sometimes it happens the other way," she said. "In many relationships, there's mutual violence, where you can't pin the blame on one person, and that poses a threat to policies predicated on blaming everything on men."
Trying to pin down gender-based statistics for domestic battering is difficult; activists on each side can cite studies and surveys supporting their views.
A survey last year by the Justice Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 1.5 million American women and
835,000 men are assaulted annually by an "intimate partner" - a current and former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, including partners of the same sex..
As found in the Calgary Herald June 24/01 Page A4
'Hen nights' too scary for hotels
Times of London
LONDON
British hotels and restaurants are refusing to accept bookings from all-female parties following claims that the drunken antics of women are wreaking havoc on respectable venues.
Some establishments have enforced a blanket ban on raucous hen-night celebrations while still allowing all-male parties. Others have drawn up strict guidelines to prevent female hedonists from going off the rails.
Holiday companies say Britain's new wave of ladettes - young women with a penchant for binge drinking and brazen behaviour - are eclipsing the antics of the beer-swilling male yob and frightening other customers away.
The bans follow mounting evidence that some women are consuming more alcohol than ever before and travelling abroad in greater numbers.
• Analysts believe the ladette phenomenon
once epitomized by brash television personalities such as Zoe Ball and Denise Van Outen - has
been driven by increasing levels of financial independence among young women.
Belgo Centrale, a Belgian-themed restaurant in London's West End, recently banned hen nights after a dozen drunken revellers crossed the boundaries of decency by mimicking sex acts. Sally Ferris, the senior duty manager at the restaurant, said: '"Men are easier to manage you take the drink away from them and they say, 'Sorry, love,' but women become personally abusive. "
Ferris's experience at Belgo is echoed by a hotel in Bournemouth that has had so much trouble from ladettes that it has been forced to discriminate against all-girl parties. Marinda Cook, who runs the Lyn-Glary hotel, has banned hen nights, but continues to host stag parties for men.
"Women are so messy, they don't listen to the rules and they think they can get away with it," said Cook. "They get more drunk than the men and are much noisier. I don't want my place trashed."