Men Shouldn't Be Overlooked as Victims of Partner Violence

Psychiatr News August 3, 2007
Volume 42, Number 15, page 31
© 2007 American Psychiatric Association

Clinical & Research News

Joan Arehart-Treichel

In addressing intimate partner violence, the focus is usually on women who are physically battered by husbands or boyfriends. However, women sometimes hurt their partners as well.

Women are doing virtually everything these days that men are—working as doctors, lawyers, and rocket scientists; flying helicopters in combat; riding horses in the Kentucky Derby. And physically assaulting their spouses or partners.

In fact, when it comes to nonreciprocal violence between intimate partners, women are more often the perpetrators.

These findings on intimate partner violence come from a study conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The lead investigator was Daniel Whitaker, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist and team leader at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (which is part of the CDC). Results were published in the May Journal of Public Health.

In 2001, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health attempted to amass data about the health of a nationally representative sample of 14,322 individuals between the ages of 18 and 28. The study also asked subjects to answer questions about romantic or sexual relationships in which they had engaged during the previous five years and whether those relationships had involved violence.

Of those subjects, 11,370 reported having had heterosexual relationships and also provided answers to the violence-related questions. So Whitaker and his colleagues decided to use the responses from these 11,370 subjects for a study into how much violence is experienced in intimate heterosexual partner relationships, who the instigators are, and whether physical harm accrues from the violence.

The 11,370 subjects, Whitaker and his colleagues found, reported on 18,761 relationships, of which 76 percent had been nonviolent and 24 percent violent. That almost a quarter of the subjects had engaged in violent relationships may seem high to some people, but "the rates we found are similar to those of other studies of late adolescents and young adults, a time period when interpersonal-violence rates are at their highest," Whitaker told Psychiatric News. Also, he added, "these rates demonstrate the magnitude of interpersonal violence as a health and social problem."

Furthermore, Whitaker discovered, of the 24 percent of relationships that had been violent, half had been reciprocal and half had not. Although more men than women (53 percent versus 49 percent) had experienced nonreciprocal violent relationships, more women than men (52 percent versus 47 percent) had taken part in ones involving reciprocal violence.

Regarding perpetration of violence, more women than men (25 percent versus 11 percent) were responsible. In fact, 71 percent of the instigators in nonreciprocal partner violence were women. This finding surprised Whitaker and his colleagues, they admitted in their study report.

As for physical injury due to intimate partner violence, it was more likely to occur when the violence was reciprocal than nonreciprocal. And while injury was more likely when violence was perpetrated by men, in relationships with reciprocal violence it was the men who were injured more often (25 percent of the time) than were women (20 percent of the time). "This is important as violence perpetrated by women is often seen as not serious," Whitaker and his group stressed.

Of the study's numerous findings, Whitaker said, "I think the most important is that a great deal of interpersonal violence is reciprocally perpetrated and that when it is reciprocally perpetrated, it is much more likely to result in injury than when perpetrated by only one partner."

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, upon which this investigation was based, was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with co-funding from 17 other federal agencies.

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a





An abstract of "Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury Between Relationships With Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence" is posted at <www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/5/941>.

Britain's worst hour

The UK has had well over a decade of social engineering and Political Correctness at the hand of the socialists. Could the lack of fathers in the lives of their children, aided and abetted by the judiciary, not enforcing contact orders have any bearing. Before Canadians get self righteous just look at Vancouver. We are heading there but have time to stop.MJM

Britain's worst hour

Megan O’Toole, National Post Published: Friday, April 10, 2009

Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesA drinker outside a British pub. Binge drinking, public violence and a feeling of cultural angst is plaguing Britain's youth.

Something is rotten in Britain. Young men are stabbing each other to death at an unprecedented rate, the centres of many towns are no-go areas on weekends as drunks spill out of bars and terrorize passersby, and Britons are obsessed with celebrities such as Jade Goody, whose funeral last weekend led to scenes reminiscent of the death of Princess Diana.

In a recent article, British talk show host Michael Parkinson heaped scathing criticism on Ms. Goody, calling her "all that's paltry and wretched about Britain."

Brought up by drug-addicted parents in a poor neighbourhood of London, she was transformed by the glare of reality television into a multi-million-dollar product whom the public was urged to celebrate, especially after being diagnosed with cervical cancer, Mr. Parkinson noted.

"Jade Goody has her own place in the history of television and, while it's significant, it's nothing to be proud of," he wrote in the Radio Times.

"When we clear the media smokescreen from around her death what we're left with is a woman who came to represent all that's paltry and wretched about Britain today. She was ... barely educated, ignorant and puerile. Then she was projected to celebrity by Big Brother and from that point on became a media chattel to be manipulated and exploited till the day she died."

What made Ms. Goody stand out in her reality-TV appearances was her shocking ignorance of her country's geography, her naked and drunken exploits and her racist bullying of an Indian housemate.

But she is not the only sign something has gone awry.

Over the past 25 years, an incredible decline in unity has become evident in everything, from rioting at soccer games to the "alien nation" characterized by high numbers of immigrants in some areas, said Ninian Mellamphy, professor emeritus of English at the University of Western Ontario.

"It looks as if the whole nation has, to a greater sense, kind of lost its moral focus," he added, noting this may reflect resentment at a loss of status resulting from the dissolution of the British Empire.

"[It took away] a kind of self-respect that had to do with British power and perhaps British arrogance, and so you have an arrogance now that has no relationship with power."

Last year, Ray Winstone, an actor known for tough-guy roles, threatened to leave, saying Britain had "gone to the dogs" and citing increasingly lawless behaviour among youths. "We're a mess. And do I really want to live in this mess any more? I feel bad saying it, but I'm just not sure."

In Mr. Mellamphy's eyes, the spiritual malaise gripping modern Britain has created something of a "moral vacuum" that feeds off itself.

Last week, two brothers, aged 10 and 11, were accused of attempting to murder two other boys, who claimed they were robbed and beaten in a wooded area in northern England. The accused, who had recently been placed in foster care, became some of the youngest people ever charged with such a serious crime in Britain.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office called the crime a "disturbing but singular event" that should not be used to draw conclusions about the state of society.

Yet signs of cultural decline have also become evident in the familial sphere, an area the opposition Conservative party has identified as a priority, touting a goal to make Britain the most "family-friendly" country in the world.

It seems they have far to go. In February, Alfie Patten, 13, was reported to have fathered his 15-year-old girlfriend's baby. Though The Daily Telegraph dubbed him "the exploited face of broken Britain," it soon appeared he was only one of several teens claiming paternity. DNA tests later confirmed he was not the father.

Other young people, increasingly girls, are getting drunk at an alarming rate. A Daily Mirror series on the "epidemic" said more than 5,000 teenage girls landed in hospital last year because of binge drinking. Those same teens - loaded up with cheap alcohol - have been fuelling soaring crime rates.

"Last year violent crimes by teenage girls reached a shocking 23,000, many of them alcohol-related," the Mirror said, going on to note that British teenagers "now drink more than almost anywhere in Europe."

But it's not making them any happier. A recent report by the New Economics Foundation found Britons aged 16 to 24 experienced some of the lowest levels of trust and belonging - key elements of social well-being - in Europe. Only Bulgaria and Estonia reported lower rates.

Part of the problem seems to be the number of people leaving school without any qualifications as the dropout rate remains stubbornly high.

Education experts are trying to reshape the curriculum to equip students with the skills they need to function today.

A new report on the primary school curriculum in England and Wales encourages educators to place more emphasis on technology than on traditional subjects.

According to its recommendations, students would not necessarily have to learn about the Victorian era or the Second World War - teachers could choose two "key periods" of British history - but learning skills such as blogging, podcasting and Twittering would take a central role.

The report also calls for a shift from core subjects to cross-cultural "themes," such as sex and relationships, healthy eating, Internet safety, dealing with violent behaviour and managing money.

With such a dramatic confluence of ills, Mr. Mellamphy, an expert in British culture, says it is difficult to envision how British society may begin to right itself.

"There's certainly a need for some kind of a movement [toward] integration rather than resentment," he said. "How exactly they're going to do that, morally and politically, I can't guess."

National Post, with files from news services

motoole@nationalpost.com

Abuse excuse: how liberalism keeps women in their place

April 14, 2009

By Carey Roberts

Liberals have become the unapologetic predators of women, gleefully playing on their fears and psychological vulnerabilities, all in the name of curbing domestic violence. Of course women's only hope lies in heavy-handed state intervention.

Before proceeding, I will warn you this column is filled with high-octane statements made by the willfully dishonest, the social schemers, and the patently unhinged. As you wade through the claims, keep in mind two facts.

First, all forms of violent crime have fallen dramatically in the past 30 years. The incidences of rape, intimate partner homicide, and non-fatal partner violence are now half what they were in 1980. We've made tremendous progress in the last three decades and everyone should be feeling a lot safer.

Second, research shows women are more likely than men to instigate partner violence — http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a . But that's one of those inconvenient truths the liberals will never concede.

Let's start with the willfully dishonest.

A few months ago Human Rights Watch issued a press release with the screaming headline, "Soaring Rates of Rape and Violence against Women." The release claims a recent Department of Justice report shows "huge increases" in domestic violence and rape. "The numbers in this survey show an alarmingly high rate of sexual violence in this country," throbs the HRW drumbeat.

Want to know what the Justice report really says? In 2007, "The rates for every major violent and property crime...were at or near the lowest levels recorded since 1973."

So how does Human Rights Watch get away with such a misleading claim? Because three years ago the Justice Department fine-tuned its survey methods, causing an anomaly in its crime numbers. The DoJ report emphasizes the apparent uptick in rapes does "not appear to be due to changes in the rate of criminal activity during this period." But apparently the Human Rights Watch people decided to skip over that particular sentence.

You can see the Ms.-Information here: www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/18/us-soaring-rates-rape-and-violence-against-women And here's the Justice report: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv07.pdf

Next up, the social schemers.

To drive home the message of men as inveterate abusers, the domestic violence industry has organized a series of high-profile "awareness months." January is Stalking Awareness Month. February is when we focus on Teen Dating, when couples can celebrate Valentine's Day by watching a performance of the Vagina Monologues. March is Women's History Month, so anything goes then. April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And June? Soon that will be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

So ladies, after all those Take Back the Night rallies, you'll be so scared that you will have divorced your husband, hired a security guard, and taken up residence in a lock-down facility. All these consciousness-raising events are taxpayer-funded, thanks to the federal Violence Against Women Act.

Now ready for the unhinged? I'll warn you, this gets wild.

A few weeks ago the National Organization for Women of New York State issued a press release on a pending hate crime bill. Mind you, hate crimes are already illegal in New York, so you'd think things have been taken care of. But no, the NOW isn't about to let go of such a juicy issue.

The NOW leads off with some old fashioned demagoguery: "Men who assault their wives are living up to cherished Western cultural prescriptions." Not only that, "we cannot deny that women are in a class by themselves, discriminated against, hated, used, disrespected, and abused." Yes, life is grim when the federal government doles out a measly $1 billion for abuse-reduction programs.

Now hold on, it's about to get hallucinogenic...

"In the hospital, from the time parents scream 'it's a girl!' they begin to ask themselves how they willl keep their little girl and woman-to-be from the violence that many women face," the NOW explains. That's right, why waste time celebrating your precious new arrival when you should be worrying about domestic violence? Let's hold a shelter fundraiser right here in the nursery!

To top it off, the NOW-NYS demands, "When a police officer is called to the scene of a violent assault against a woman by her husband/partner or stranger, the officer should arrest the perpetrator of the 'hate crime.' And this mandated arrest needs to be judicially enforced." http://www.nownys.org/pr_2009/pr_022609.html

Of course we needn't worry about probable cause or due process. Once we declare war on the national epidemic of partner abuse, normal constitutional guarantees are no longer in effect. And don't you dare mention that the perpetrator turned out to be the victim's jealous lesbian heartthrob.

Just imagine, these are the same women who boast when the Sisterhood takes over, tolerance, fairness, and understanding will finally prevail.

© Carey Roberts