I couldn't agree more.I know of several cases where the female is the first to attack.When the man tries to defend himself or hits back,the police are called and the man is given a DVO against him.I have seen women throw knives and kick sensitive areas but it's always the man who
is villified for striking his wife.This problem needs to be addressed and quickly.

A great article, and surprising to see this on OLO, with it's normal feminist bias. I think the government has shown it's hand already though. To violence against men. Australia says yes.

I could not agree more with the author of this thread....as a 63 yo female, I enjoyed being a female, stay at home mum, homemaker and wife. At no time did I feel that my role in life was denigrated. Many females today are so busy fighting their natural instincts and trying to prove themselves to be as good as or better than men, instead of discerning the DIFFERENCES between men and women. To those females who are trying to compete with men, I say 'stop wasting your time'. My sympathies lie with the male subjects of domestic violence. I become slightly resentful when I see that working women who have a husband, and a family feel the need to pay child minding organisations to look after their children.....why have children if you are going to pay someone to look after them. I am totally convinced that the shocking behaviour of some children/teenagers that we are witnessing through various news media today, is the result of a lack of a simple, loving family environment....there is a time right for everything.....women can receive education through OUA if they feel the need, and study whilst the children are at school....purchase a simple affordable home, furnish it with love, good food and plenty of humour, and maybe at least some of our societal problems could be eradicated.

I could not agree more with the author of this thread....as a 63 yo female, I enjoyed being a female, stay at home mum, homemaker and wife. At no time did I feel that my role in life was denigrated. Many females today are so busy fighting their natural instincts and trying to prove themselves to be as good as or better than men, instead of discerning the DIFFERENCES between men and women. To those females who are trying to compete with men, I say 'stop wasting your time'. My sympathies lie with the male subjects of domestic violence. I become slightly resentful when I see that working women who have a husband, and a family feel the need to pay child minding organisations to look after their children.....why have children if you are going to pay someone to look after them. I am totally convinced that the shocking behaviour of some children/teenagers that we are witnessing through various news media today, is the result of a lack of a simple, loving family environment....there is a time right for everything.....women can receive education through OUA if they feel the need, and study whilst the children are at school....purchase a simple affordable home, furnish it with love, good food and plenty of humour, and maybe at least some of our societal problems could be eradicated.
Noisy Scrub Bird

Excellent article. Unfortunately it did not comment on the prevelance of mutual DV (where both parties physically assault the other) which in most population based studies seems to represent a significant proportion of the DV population. Nor did it mention that some studies have shown that women who hit their male partners are more likely to suffer serious injury than those who don't. That applies regardless of who initiates the violence so the message to women not to hit is beneficial not just to their partners but to women as well.

Perhaps to forstall the critics it would have been better to point out that women do suffer a significantly higher rate of serious injury (a small proportion of what is treated as DV by government campiagns).

Some additional reading for those interested
- http://www.ncfmla.org/gelles.html - Background info by Richard Gelles
- http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/5/941 Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury Between Relationships With Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence
- http://www.mincava.umn.edu/documents/factoid/factoid.html DV Factoids by Richard Gelles
- http://www.mediaradar.org/ja_sex_differences.php Sex Differences in Aggression Between Heterosexual Partners: A Meta-Analytic Review
- http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/170018.pdf Summary info on the Dunedin study
- http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/CTS4.pdf CTS evaluation - (someone will probably claim that CTS is unreliable)
- http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf DOMINANCE AND SYMMETRY IN PARTNER VIOLENCE BY MALE AND FEMALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN 32 NATIONS - Murray Straus
- http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/dom/heady99.htm Australian research
- http://www.law.ku.edu/journal/articles/v12n2/detschelt.pdf Recognizing Domestic Violence Directed Towards Men: Overcoming Societal Perceptions, Conducting Accurate Studies, and Enacting Responsible Legislation
- http://www.mediaradar.org/research.php#waj an advocacy site - more strident in it's tone than many will like but it does reference some great material
- http://www.health.qld.gov.au/violence/domestic/default.asp - how Qld Health portrays the issue and one of the reasons we need articles such as Roger's article.

R0bert

Some of what is said here is true enough, and a certain percentage of people will be hard done by, by any legal or dispute resolution apparatus.

Meanwhile has anyone ever noticed that a mans fist is much much larger than a womans, and that men are generally larger and stronger too.

Wife bashing hads always been a universal sport, and still is.

Once upon a time it was condoned by the system by the fact that it was considered "inappropriate" for the authorities to intervene in domestics, a man's home was his castle, and he was the ruler there. Once upon a time it was also considered impossible for a married man to rape or sexually abuse his wife. She wasnt allowed to say NO to a man demanding the exercise of his conjugal "rights".

Meanwhile (again) there is a world-wide epidemic of violent sexual abuse against females of all ages. Anybody who denies this is living in cloud-cuckoo land, a Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell fantasy.

Google SEXUAL ASSAULT:THE SILENT VIOLENT EPIDEMIC

This abuse of women is very much related to the flood of ever-worsening pornography; the sexual slave trade in much of the world (including here in OZ), and the associated huge "sex"-holiday industry in many parts of the world.