THE MYTH OF BATTERED MEN

MEN AND WOMEN ARE NOT EQUALLY ABUSIVE

CRITIQUES OF THE CONFLICT TACTIC SCALES

By Trish Wilson, © 2000

Contrary to claims made by men’s/fathers’ rights and false allegations of abuse advocates, men and women are not equally abusive. There is not an epidemic of “battered men” in America. Although rare, bona fide abuse of men by women is taken seriously by the domestic violence community. No one deserves to be abused.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FACTOIDS
by Richard J. Gelles
University of Rhode Island Family Violence Research Program

[Excerpt]
MYTH: WOMEN ARE AS VIOLENT AS ARE MEN, AND
WOMEN INITIATE VIOLENCE AS OFTEN AS DO MEN.This factoid cites research by Murray Straus, Suzanne Steinmetz, and Richard Gelles, as well as a host of other self-report surveys. Those using this factoid tend to conveniently leave out the fact that Straus and his colleague’s surveys as well as data collected from the National Crime Victimization Survey (Bureau of Justice Statistics) consistently find that no matter what the rate of violence or who initiates the violence, women are 7 to 10 times more likely to be injured in acts of intimate violence than are men.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:
NOT AN EVEN PLAYING FIELD
By Richard J. Gelles

[excerpt]
[W]hen we look at injuries resulting from violence involving male and female partners, it is categorically false to imply that there are the same number of “battered” men as there are battered women. Research shows that nearly 90 percent of battering victims are women and only about ten percent are men.

Measuring the Extent of Woman Abuse in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships:
A Critique of the Conflict Tactics Scales
by
Walter S. DeKeseredy, Ph.D., Carleton University, Ottawa
Martin D. Schwartz, Ph.D., Ohio University, Athens
February 1998

 

The Battered Husband Controversy
By Kate Orman

 

Battered Men, Battered Facts
EXTRA! The Magazine for Fairness in Accuracy and Reporting
October, 1994

 

Not All Domestic Violence Studies Are Created Equal
EXTRA! The Magazine for Fairness in Accuracy and Reporting
November, 1999

 

Men as Victims
by Michael Flood
First published in the magazine XY: men, sex, politics, 4(2), Winter 1994

 

Violence Against Women in Relationships
A British Columbia Fact Sheet

[excerpt]
Mutual BatteringSometimes women are accused of being “just as violent” as their batterers. However, spousal homicide rates show that women are killed by their partners at a rate of three times higher than women who kill men, and women who have been separated from their partners are murdered eight times more by ex-husbands than separated men killed by ex-wives.Generally, the claim of “mutual battering” is a method of denying what is really taking place. A close look at the history and pattern of a “violent relationship” will most often show that the abuser has superior physical strength and skills for assault as well a superior social status and privilege by virtue of his gender, race or class. By contrast, his partner will be the one to adapt her behavior and lifestyle preferences to please the abuser, and will be the one who has suffered the more extensive physical and/or emotional damage. Both partners may be violent, but studies have shown that men are violent in response to women resisting their control or trying to leave, and women are violent when their lives or their children’s lives are in danger.

US Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 1999.
Domestic violence: Violence between Intimates.

US Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. August 1997.
Violence-Related Injuries Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments

Battered husbands: myth or fact?
by Angela Matheson
Green Left Weekly, Issue 234, 5 June 1996

Women’s Shelters: Out In The Cold
by Angela Matheson
Green Left Weekly, 1995, Issue 207, October 18, 1995

I covered up for him
by Angela Matheson
Green Left Weekly, Issue 234, 5 June 1996

The Myth of Male Violence
by Ben Wadham

Statistics Canada. Family Violence, 1999
Report in the Statistics Canada newsletter The Daily, 25 July 2000

Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence
Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey
July 2000
National Institute of Justice Report on Intimate Violence

[excerpt]
Men living with male intimate partners experience more intimate partner violence than do men who live with female intimate partners.Approximately 23 percent of the men who had lived with a man as a couple reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked by a male cohabitant, while 7.4 percent of the men who had married or lived with a woman as a couple reported such violence by a wife or female cohabitant. These findings, combined with those presented in the previous bullet, provide further evidence that intimate partner violence is perpetrated primarily by men, whether against male or female intimates. Thus, strategies for preventing intimate partner violence should focus on risks posed by men.