Local paper addresses DV but not men
- Details
- Category: Media and Abused Men
- Published on Thursday, 05 January 2012 15:48
- Written by Damien Moody
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In a local newspaper dated 5 October 2011 was an article by a staff writer titled "Courtroom lapses leave domestic violence victims at risk, group says".
I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that the article makes "domestic violence victims" synonymous with "women". The article points out lapses in the local court system in which victims and abusers are not kept separate during judicial proceedings.
The article raises very valid points that need to be addressed; however, no mention of men as victims are made, nor are any examples of male victims given.
I felt I just had to speak up, and I wrote a letter to the editor, which was published two editions later:
Males are also domestic violence victims
In the October 5, 2011 edition was an article titled "Courtroom lapses leave domestic violence victims at risk, group says".
This article leaves out at least half of all domestic violence victims by saying nothing about male victims. If more than 4000 women are victims of domestic violence on an annual basis, there are at least another 4000 victims who are male. If an estimated 76,000 Montgomery County women will be attacked by an intimate partner at some time in their lives, at least another 76,000 men will be attacked by an intimate partner at some time in their lives.
It's time for misconceptions and ignorance about domestic violence to be overcome with education and actual statistics. A woman slapping a man in the face might be laughed at, shrugged off or even considered acceptable by mainstream society, but that slap was an act of domestic violence that indicates a mind that believes it is acceptable to physically abuse one's partner. It is an act that forms a precedence for further violence later. It's time for both women and men to come together to bring attention to and reduce domestic violence, because both are victims in equal amounts.
I know what I'm talking about. I was physically and psychologically abused in multiple forms by my ex-wife. Because of the proliferation of ignorance about male victims of female domestic violence, I was belittled by a judge to whom I was attempting to explain the financial ruin the abusive behavior of my former spouse caused me.
