J.O.M:
Yes there is a cycle of violence, and the less powerful are attracted to perceived strength for protection, only to become victims of it?
And one never ever gets to know the real person until they've lived with them for some time! So please, don't blame the victim, but stand up for her.
My sister was in such a abusive relationship, and I camped across the road, with my 303 loaded and ready.
And guess what? The bar steward just didn't show.
Luckily in one sense, given I was just 18 and could have paid a huge prison time price.
However, it did give my sister uninterrupted time to reflect, pack her things and simply get out of that abusive relationship.
The next time I saw said "gentleman" he was at our door, begging for a fortieth chance, but scuttled like a startled rabbit, when he saw me! I just didn't buy his hale and hearty, well met act, and he knew it?
He apparently died from a heart attack aged just forty something.
Maybe he died of fright, jumping at shadows with imagined loaded guns?
However, we ourselves don't need to continue the cycle of violence, and intelligent men are the key to ending male violence against both male and female victims.
And yes, some of it is cultural and or, imported; as seeming "normal" behavior? Or, doesn't everybody do it, therefore, so should I?
Violence just begets violence, and bullies always have all sorts of ultra-convenient, she made me do it excuses, its her fault, for unacceptable stone age behavior!
Nothing makes a male bully more uncomfortable, than another male, with implacable resolve to put a stop to unacceptable behavior!
Just the resolve and unflinching steely eye contact, Along with, don't give me any of your BS excuses, I'm just not buying, is usually enough; given real bullies are also real cowards, only brave around comparatively helpless women and children!
And guess what, birds of a feather usually flock together and or, make half baked excuses for each other!
Rhrosty.

rper 1959

'She might also approach Australian authorities to reintroduce reporting of the sex of perpetrators of confirmed cases of child abuse, which was stopped in the mid 90'S under feminist pressure because is confirmed finding elsewhere that women are the predominant abusers of children.'

It's never been stopped - by feminists or anyone else. Statistics on gender and child abuse are freely available to anyone capable of Googling.

I’ve looked at a number of those studies that supposedly show that women are the main perpetrators of child abuse. The methodology is suspect and the statistics distorted.

Although women spend on average 70-80% of the childrearing time with their children, while men spend only an average 20-30%, the studies don’t take this time imbalance into account. When that is taken into account, men’s sexual, emotional and physical abuse of children is proportionately far greater than women's.

Also, another major problem with these statistics is that they include neglect as a form of child abuse. Because women overwhelmingly make up the majority of neglect perpetrators (over 90%), mainly because they are expected to shoulder the principle burden of childrearing, that skews the average abuse statistics to make women look a lot more abusive than they are.

And on the issue of neglect, cultural norms also play a part in distorting the statistics. For example, a man who works a sixty hour week or spends most of his leisure times with his mates, routinely leaving his wife alone with the children for long, lonely stretches time, is not culturally viewed as ‘neglecting’ his children. Yet, this is a very common pattern among married men.

Rhian, I think you've read the one in three page wrong, it's quite specific and Feminists always twist the meaning of words.
What the Australian data and the U.S CDC data shows is that men and women are equally violent and that women are actually more likely to initiate violence ie slap, kick, punch or use an object as a weapon.
So no, the article is approaching the issue from a gender biased position, men and women are perpetrators of violence in about equal measure when judged by the same set of standards.In abusive relationships men inflict far more injuries and deaths upon women and women are far more likely to inflict violence upon children or to murder them. The disparity is in physical size and strength, perpetrator compared to victim not gender, bigger, stronger people inflict more injuries upon smaller people.
Caitlin Roper isn't even really addressing family violence statistics in her article, she's criticising the way it's reported in the media in a very nitpicking fashion and seems to be insisting that using gendered language would be more appropriate even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
Focusing reporting in the way suggested by Ms Roper only narrows and biases the dialogue on family violence, which helps nobody and only further obscures the issues, by excising women's role in the cycle of violence from the discussion we're effectively fighting with one hand behind our backs.
As I said, it's a ripple effect, it'd be a lucky person who has not had to deal with family violence in some form, it's not out of control as the Feminists would say but like drug abuse and chronic gambling its a stubborn and malignant presence in our daily lives and it effects us all in varied and often surprising ways.

Rhrosty,
Let's say you'd given this abusive bloke a hiding?
Given the context shouldn't we count him as a victim of family violence too?
Say your sister's new partner listened to her side of the story and then tracked down the other bloke and killed him, would he be counted as a DV statistic?
I've seen well meaning third parties break under the strain of helping a female victim out of a bad situation only to have her take up with another violent sod only months later.
I've seen a good, gentle, artistic man snap and attack his girlfriend's abusive former partner after she'd goaded and basically dared him to come to their house knowing full well how violent and unstable he was.
Ripple effect mate, to put it in a macabre way (as is my wont),DV is the gift that keeps on giving.

jay

‘The first step to an honest public discussion is to de-couple the public discourse on family violence from ideological Feminism…’

Yes, we’d all like that, wouldn’t we? Especially as feminist ‘ideology’ is the only viewpoint that dares to speak the unspeakable – that male violence is much more than just the isolated actions of a few disturbed men.

It’s feminists who dare to remind us that male violence towards women and within families is inextricably linked to prevailing cultural messages on what it means to be a man in this society (or any society).

It’s feminists who dare to suggest that misogyny is structurally embedded within all patriarchal cultures and is the principal driving factor in men’s violence towards women and within families.

Yes, it’s best to get rid of all this feminist nonsense from public discourse, not just on family violence, but on everything. We don’t want to upset men, do we? It might make them violent.

Rhian

Why is it a 'problem' to put less media focus on the victims of gendered violence and more focus on the perpetrators? Why should the victims of such crimes be given so much media focus anyway? They've already been violated by violence - why violate them again with unwanted publicity.

When someone robs a bank, the media doesn't spend much time worrying about the poor bank. It puts the spotlight almost entirely on catching the robber.

I think the author is spot on here. I too read media and news articles and notice that the headlines and stories do not call it what it is. It's as if the male perpetrators are erased from most of the story leaving only questions around the victim, why was she there, what was she wearing, how much had she been drinking and why didn't she leave.

And the term "sex with child" really infuriates me. I'm glad the author has drawn the spotlight on the discrepancies in facts within journalism and hope more can be done to eradicate male violence towards women and children.

And I've signed the petition! Our government need to step up and address this epidemic!