The first reaction upon hearing about the topic of battered men, for many people, is that of incredulity. Battered husbands are a topic for jokes (such as the cartoon image of a woman chasing her husband with a rolling-pin). One researcher noted that wives were the perpetrators in 73% of the depictions of domestic violence in newspaper comics (Saenger 1963).
Battered husbands have historically been either ignored or subjected to ridicule and abuse. In 18th-century France, a battered husband "was made to wear an outlandish outfit and ride backwards around the village on a donkey" (Steinmetz & Lucca 1988).
Even those of us who like to consider ourselves liberated and open-minded often have a difficult time even imagining that husband battering could take place. Although feminism has opened many of our eyes about the existance of domestic violence, and newspaper reports often include incidents of abuse of wives, the abuse of husbands is a rarely discussed phenomenon.
One reason researchers and others had not chosen to investigate husband battering is because it was thought to be a fairly rare occurrence. Police reports seemed to bear this out (Steinmetz 1977), with in some cases a ratio of 12 to 14.5 female victims to every one male victim.
But another reason is that because women were seen as weaker and more helpless than men due to sex roles, and men on the other hand were seen as more sturdy and self-reliant, the study of abused husbands seemed relatively unimportant.
Research begins to show the reality
In 1974, a study was done which compared male and female domestic violence. In that study, it was found that 47% of husbands had used physical violence on their wives, and 33% of wives had used violence on their husbands (Gelles 1974). Half of the respondents in this study were selected from either cases of domestic violence reported to the police, or those identified by the social service agency.
Also in 1974, a study was released showing that the number of murders of women by men (17.5% of total homicides) was about the same as the number of murders of men by women (16.4% of total homicides). This study (Curtis 1974), however, showed that men were three times as likely to assault women as vice-versa. These statistics came from police records.
[The murder statistic was no big news, by the way. In 1958, an investigation of spousal hom...
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...and Divorce Today "First Large-Scale Study Reveals Elder Abuse is Primarily by Wives Against Husbands" December 15, 1986
Mercy, J.A. & Saltzman, L.E. "Fatal violence among spouses in the United States, 1976-85" American Journal of Public Health 79(5): 595-9 May 1989
Nagi, Saad Child Maltreatment in the United States Columbia University Press, New York, p. 47, 1977
Nisonoff, L. & Bitman, I "Spouse Abuse: Incidence and Relationship to Selected Demographic Variables" Victimology 4, 1979, pp. 131-140
O'Leary, K. Daniel; Arias, Ilena; Rosenbaum, Alan & Barling, Julian "Premarital Physical Aggression" State University of New York at Stony Brook & Syracuse University
Rooke, Margaret "Violence in the Home" RadioTimes 16-22 March 1991 p. 8.
Saenger, G. "Male and female relation in the American comic strips" in The funnies: An American idiom M. White & R.H. Abel editors, The Free Press, Glencoe IL, 1963, p. 219-223
Sexuality Today Newsletter "Violence in Adolescent Dating Relationships Common, New Survey Reveals" December 22, 1986 (reporting on a report in Social Work contact Karen Brockopp) pp 2-3.
Statistical Abstract of the United States 1987 table 277
Although domestic violence is a significant societal problem, which continues to receive public and private sector attention, intervention and treatment programs have proven inconsistent in their success. Statistics by various organization show that many offenders continue to abuse their victims. Approximately 32% of battered women are victimized again, 47% of men who abuse their wives do so at least three times per year (MCFBW). There are many varying fact...
In the study involving 2,143 married couples living together completed in 1975 and the study involving 6,002 couples completed in 1985 these studies showed that females had a slightly higher rate of assaulting their spouse than men did (Straus & Gelles, 1986, 1990). The overall rates in the 1985 National Family Violence Survey was 124 per 1,000 women assaulted their male partners compared to 122 per 1000 men who assaulted their female partners (Dutton, 1988; Stets & Straus, 1990). These studies show that women have the same if not hig...
Shannon Brennfleck, Joyce. Ed. Domestic Violence Sourcebook: Third Edition. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics Inc. 2009. 276-279. Print.
Domestic Violence Statistics states, “Around the world, at least one in every 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime” (1). The United States Department of Justice defines domestic violence as, “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner” (para. 1). Domestic violence is a crime that numerous citizens fall victim to in every country. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence regardless of race, gender, sexuality or religion. Being a victim of domestic violence can affect a person’s way of life permanently and the way these victims interact with other people can become a difficult task and can eventually affect their future. Domestic violence is substantially wrong because it can cause drastic permanent effects in a person’s life, can cause physical, emotional and intellectual damage, and affects a child’s state of mind of what is normal and what is not if they are in a domestic violent atmosphere. While women are usually victims of domestic violence, men are victims of this crime as well. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney states that, “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, men account for approximately fifteen percent of the victims of reported intimate partner crimes” (Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, par.1). Physical, emotional, economic and physiological abuses are all forms of domestic violence that many people would consider to fall under another crime. There are many crimes that many citizens commit, but domestic violence is one of many that should not be taken lightly.
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, (2006) “Intimate Partner Violence in the United States,” December 2006.
jealousy as an excuse for beating their wives; violence became a way for husbands to
Rodgers, K. ‘Wife assault: the findings of a national survey’. Juristat Service Bulletin, 1994, 14:1-22, cited in World Health Organization, ‘World Report on Violence and Health’, ed. by Krug, Etienne G., et al., Geneva, 2002.
During the 1980s and 1900s, domestic violence was one of the most unreported crimes that involve females and males getting hurt and dying. Kicking, choking, killing, and saying brutal or despise words that could hurt the victims physically or emotionally are considered domestic violence. In fact, many victims are afraid to seek for help. According to “The Domestic Violence Resource Center (DVRC), women account for approximately 85 percent of all intimate partner violence, with women aged 20-24 at greater risk” (Batten, par.16). Most pregnant women are at risk as well. “But underlying approach is still one that assumes the perpetrators are men and the victims are woman” (Haugen, par. 1). Moreover, both males and females believe that domestic violence is a solution to their issues.
The major steps in preforming the study began with choosing a large, urban healthcare center, out of three candidates. The one selected for the study was chosen because of its diversity and large proportion of younger women than the other two health centers. Next, women that were going to the clinic for an abortion or only refilling prescriptions were not asked to partake in the study because of how it would affect their schedules. After that, 697 women were ask if they would take a survey about physical violence in a relationship using an audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI), and upon completion of the interview awarded the interviewee with a 10 dollar gift card to a clothing store of their choice. The interviewers only required that informed verbal be given by the individuals completing the interview to help protect their anonymity. Of the women that completed it 79 were excluded for either not finishing the survey, being in a same sex relationship, completing it twice, or not being in a relationship with the last year. This left a sample size of 618
Straus, M. A., & Yllo, K. (1990). Patriarchy and violence against wives: The impact of structural and normative factors. Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in, 8(145), 383-399.
IntroductionIn recent history, dating violence has become a paramount issue in American society. With the rates of domestic violence on the rise, much research has been conducted that provides evidence that violence during dating relationships in the teen years is a strong contributing factor to later domestic violence. Current research is revealing that a far larger percentage of teens are suffering from some amount of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse in their dating relationships. Studies have shown that both those who engage in the violent behaviors, as well as those who are the victims of these acts are more likely to be involved in violent relationships in the future. The significant number of individuals involved in these behaviors during these teen years makes a great deal of implications on the roles of counselors in multiple specialties. Dating ViolenceIn order for counselors and other individuals who are involved in the lives of adolescents to be able to identify those who are suffering from dating violence, it is first key that they have an understanding of what is defined as dating violence. Dating violence is the “perception or threat of an act of violence by at least one member of an unmarried couple within the context of a dating or courtship relationship (Glass, 2003).” This type of violence can occur in three different forms: physical (hitting, pinching, shoving, or kicking), emotional (threatening, name calling, teasing, bullying or keeping away from friends of family members), or sexual (forcing partner to engage in sexual act) (CDC, 2008). Seimer and colleagues describe the process of dating violence as “a cycle of violence (Seimer, 2004).” The goal of this cycle is the exertion of power and control over t...
Pan, H. S., Neidig, P. H., & O'Leary, K. D. (1994). Predicting mild and severe husband-to-wife physical aggression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(5), 975-981. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.62.5.975
Historically, domestic violence was viewed as only involving physical abuse. However, the more contemporary view of domestic violence has come to include not only physical types of abuse; but as well as emotional, sexual, physiological, and economic violence that may be committed
Domestic violence is not just fighting, hitting or an occasional argument. It’s a chronic abuse of power. The abuser of domestic violence, controls and tortures the victim of threats, intimidation, and physical violence. Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of violence in America. The abusers are not only men, women can be abusers as well. Women make up the vast majority of domestic violence. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), 90-95% of domestic violence victims are females and 70% of intimidating homicides are females. Domestic violence is a serious crime and everyone needs to be aware of its effects. This essay presents and explains the evidence supporting the major risk factors for intimate partner homicides.
McHugh, M. C., & Frieze, I. H. (2006). Intimate partner violence. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1087, 121–141. doi: 10.1196/annals.1385.011