timkins said

" Trinity,
Thanks for the unsubstantiated inferences and innuendo. It is also a form of abuse."

you poor man, are all these nasty women ganging up on you?

are you seriously placing someones differing opinion on the same level as the physical and psycological abuse that some of the women in this forum have experienced?

i realise this is not the most constructive post and you may well take this as abuse.

but get some perspective man. this is not a competition to find out who has been abused the most, because whether its 1 in 4 or 1 in 3.142.... its still terrible.

As per the English case of Davis v Johnson [1979] AC 264 at 270-271, Lord Denning (quoting the jurist Blackstone)discusses the common law 'rule of thumb', that morally obliged and legally legitimised the use of force for 'moderate correction' by a husband against all other members of the household. In effect, it was a leftover from the Roman Law which described the 'pater familias' as the juridical head of the household, entitling the father to use force against his family, to take their property for his own use, and to convert them into property by selling them into slavery.

I hope that clears things up.

I don't know about this 'one in four' business - but in my experience as a 28 y/o single mother of two who has lived with violence from the womb right through to adult life, it never ceases to amaze me that whenever victims are willing to break the silence and talk about the violence perpetrated against them, there are always plenty of others who are prepared to claim its all hogwash (as well as those who claim it was their fault to begin with - now where have I heard that before?)

Regardless, when my mother was being kicked and punched around the kitchen and being told that she was a stupid s@#t because the lamb chops weren't cooked through, it was not the done thing to talk about being victimised at home by people that love you, let alone talking about family violence in the wider community.

Isn't it great that women and men can now talk this issue through, because, afterall, those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it.

Its not easy being,
Thankyou for your unsubstantiated abuse and name calling (Eg “you poor man” etc)

Your order that I should “get some perspective man” is interesting, and also fundamental as to whether or not there is bias incorporated into current domestic violence surveys (which is the topic we are suppossed to be discussing). I have previously given evidence in posts that there most likely is bias, as well as anecdotal evidence (which has minimal place in scientific surveys), advocacy research, propaganda etc.

There is a considerable selection of articles and studies on domestic violence at http://www.dvmen.org/dv-186.htm#lauritsen if you wish to establish greater perspective.

Forgive me for introducing the real world into the fantasies of the 'men as domestic violence victims' activists, but I don't suppose any of them heard today's news item about the bloke in Newcastle last night who stabbed his ex-partner and her father to death, and also stabbed his daughter and ex-partner's mother, who remain seriously injured in hospital?

The dead woman had apparently taken out an AVO against the alleged perpetrator in April.

Garra, the AVO probably directly contributed to the murders. AVO's are only paper so they offer no physical protection whatsoever. It would be interesting to look at the number of murders that have happened after the serving of an "ex parte" AVO on the person who has become the murderer.

In the Newcastle case the AVO probably separated the father from his child. It looks like the grandmother may have been interfering in the relationship. If you know anything about AVO's you will know that they are extremely easy to get on basis of uncorroborated oral evidence and in the absence of the alleged perpetrator. The process by which they are got has no regard for natural justice or due process. The corrupt secretive court practices currently in affect, have come about from hysteria from the feminist lobby pushing propaganda on domestic violence. Their primary purpose is to breakup relationships not to try and assist the parties.

Garra,

It is always tragic when these horrific events occur. But is it domestic violence or something else? Did the woman who shot dead her husband, two children and then herself a couple of months ago commit domestic violence or had she left the realms of rational thinking? Did the woman last year who tried to run over her former partner with a 4 wheel drive and the pram containing his baby from a new relationship, commit domestic violence or was she driven by a jealous rage that had driven her into insanity.

We can't know the inner thought processes that cause such insane acts. But to lump everything under one heading of 'domestic violence' where murder is at one end of the spectrum and mere verbal argument at the other, to ignore the existence of victims because they aren't of the politically correct gender, to overlay it all with faked stats and to create legal 'solutions' e.g. DVOs which are wide open to abuse (and self-evidently do not protect from murder or serious violence) is not going to help society find a better way.

This is what I think Michael Gray’s article was really pointing to.

We need far better statistics and more realistic definitions e.g. “Physical violence” as opposed to “partner trauma” caused by non-physical behaviours (e.g. emotional abuse, controlling behaviours) and their existence needs to be properly established as opposed to merely alleged.

In NSW over the Xmas holidays a mere phone call is all that is required to get a DVO. In Tasmania, this now results in automatic jailing because of a presumption against bail. In WA a respondent cannot cross-examine his accuser and thus has to pay $000’s for a lawyer. When a relationship ends and love turns to hate, and women are routinely advised to take out DVOs to ensure they get the kids and the house etc, and the systems that are supposed to separate fact from fiction do not work because society has been lulled into believing that male perpetrators are under every bed, then it is a recipe for tragedy