Robert,

I understand sports people are admired by a large part of the population and they have at lease extraordinary physical and mental qualities that make them a role model for young people (and old!) but to me they are not in the same league as a Hollows or Dr Chang AC.

But to lower the bar even further to victims of personal tragedies degrades the award itself. Batty is undoubtedly the victim of a terrible tragedy yet that hardly makes her unique. I had to stop watching Australian Story a few years ago because they just seemed to focus on incredibly tragic stories where half the family died of cancer and the other half died in car accidents. Unfortunately there is no shortage of tragedy in the world.

However, for me the most disgusting thing about Batty getting the award is the way it pushes a partisan anti-male agenda. DV is synonymous in the public mind with men=bad, yet we don't know the exact circumstances that drove her husband to insanity. Many people know men who have gone through bitter divorces where the mother has used the full coercive force of the state to exact revenge for a failed relationship. We will never know if that happened here because of the complete lack of transparency in the Family Court.

But to elevate a victim of a personal tragedy to national prominence solely to further an essentially partisan, political agenda only diminishes the award itself. I wonder who will get it next year: the first married gay couple? Before long you'll have to be disabled, black, female, lesbian asylum seeker to win.

'For instance, during 2010–11 and 2011–12, there were 121 females (62%) and 75 males (38%) killed in domestic homicides according to the latest figures just released by the Australian Institute of Criminology.'

Without clarifying which gender perpetrated the homicide, this is a useless statistic. Anecdotal media accounts of male victims of family homicides indicate that men are being killed by sons, fathers or other male family members, much more so than by female family members.

Also, it's very frustrating to be simply given a statistic without an accompanying link to the table, article or research study, so that the reader can ascertain context.

'The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Personal Safety Survey 2012 also showed that 33.3%, exactly one in three, of the victims of violence by a current partner within the previous 12 months were male.'

Again, no link, no context. Considering this goes against most anecdotal observation, at the very least, a lot more clarification is needed.

This is NOT a kneejerk denial (as I'm sure I'll be told). It's a reasonable expectation that all statistical information within an article that is supposedly overturning and challenging established 'gender myths' be validated and contextualised if it's to be taken at all seriously.

Killarney, unfortunately the AIC doesn't make the gender of the perpetrators of domestic homicides widely available. It's not to be found in their biannual reports - you have to request this data from them.

The 2011-12 data hasn't yet been requested, as far as I am aware. However the data from the previous reporting period 2009-10 found that 50% of perpetrators of domestic homicides of men were female and 50% were male.

MALE PERPETRATORS
Custodial father only: 2
Brother: 3
Other family (male): 13
Son only (includes stepson): 9
Homosexual relationship: 1
Total: 28

FEMALE PERPETRATORS
Other family (female): 1
Daughter: 1
Wife only: 8
Female defacto partner only: 13
Girlfriend: 3
Extramarital lover: 1
Ex-girlfriend only: 1
Total: 28

Source: Australian Institute of Criminology (2013). Custom data request for Greg Andresen from NMHP database. Australian Institute of Criminology: Canberra. http://www.oneinthree.com.au/storage/xls/Family_Violence_Homicides_2008-10_NHMP.xlsx.

You can find the ABS data showing that 33.3% of the victims of violence by a current partner within the previous 12 months were male in Table 3 "EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENCE DURING THE LAST 12 MONTHS, Relationship to perpetrator" available at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4906.02012?OpenDocument. 33,100 males and 66,200 females had experienced violence from a current partner during the last 12 months.

You are wrong Men's Health Australia.
I looked up the aic.gov.au site and it does give the genders of both victims and perpetrators for domestic violence homicide statistics.

"Overall, 61 percent of all female homicide victims (n=116) killed throughout 2008–09 and 2009–10 were killed by an offender with whom they shared a domestic relationship, while a greater number of male homicide victims were killed by a friend or an acquaintance (n=173; 86%) than by someone with whom they shared a domestic relationship (n=75; 39%).

Consistent with previous NHMP annual reports, females were overrepresented as victims in intimate partner homicide (n=89; 73% of intimate partner homicides), while males were more highly represented in homicides involving friends or acquaintances (n=173; 86% of acquaintance homicides) or strangers (n=56; 78% of stranger homicides)."

Look it up and see for yourself on aic.gov.au

I fail to see why we can't just say the truth and get on with trying to stop ALL domestic violence.

phanto

'... where are the women’s voices warning young women in particular about becoming emotionally dependent on domestic relationships? Why are they not encouraging women to become emotionally independent and to stand up to the constant brain washing that tells them the only valid happiness is domestic happiness?'

Where on earth have you been for the last 40 years? This is EXACTLY what feminists have been saying over and over and over and over. This is what I'VE been saying on OLO for several years.

Have you read ANYTHING at all that has ever been written or spoken by feminists? Or do you get all your information about feminism from the prolific bigotry and disinformation disseminated by the well-funded and well-connected anti-feminism industry?

'Where are the women's voices?' you ask. Well, they're everywhere. I am one such voice as are all the worlds feminists. And they are saying the very thing that you, and others like you, are telling us that they are NOT saying.

Get your nose out of all the anti-feminist/mens movement hate-fests they laughingly call 'websites' and 'publications' and 'research studies' and start finding out more about feminist principles and analyses, which (sadly) you seem to have been carefully taught to avoid at all costs.

Craig Minns

'... it was notable for the polarisation of the discussion in line with 2nd wave (70s) feminist principles, which have been largely discredited as a social justice model'

This is the very kind of bigotry and disinformation perpetrated by anti-feminist dogma, which I referred to in my reply to phanto above. It's a manipulative form of false rhetoric that draws the reader into assuming an 'accepted fact' that is neither factual nor accepted. In fact, the feminist 'social justice model' has NOT been discredited. It's remained one of the most important tools for analysing the dynamics of power in our society.

This is the reason why the feminist model remains the cultural benchmark for dealing with domestic violence - the main reason being that DV encompasses all that is fundamentally wrong with the current gender power structure.

Hi Suseonline,

Nowhere in the data you cited does it give the gender of the perpetrator for domestic homicide statistics.

I stand by the data I cited, which came directly from the AIC's National Homicide Monitoring Program.