Robert,

'We need to work at stopping all the DV we can rather than looking for excuses not to address violence where women perpetrate it.'

I think this is the crux of the issue. I'm not sure of the motives, but I think it's a combination of things.

Yvonne has highlighted one reason, when she twists any discussion of a woman perpretrating violence into being a 'notion that a woman could have been 'asking for it' '. I think this was probably the justification for the government's adverts not mentioning any violence perpertrated by women, as if that would suddenly give men who bash women some sort of excuse. I'm pretty cynical, so I think it's a deliberate tactic to protect women's exclusive hold on victim status. I also think it's a double standard to be so scared of condoning men's retaliation because they 'punch harder', but yet totally ok to condone women eventually shooting their abusive partners, and letting them off scott free as I have seen quite a few times. Do we condone retaliation or not? I have already noted the other double standard where pushing and shouting abuse is DV if a man does it, but not extreme enough to be DV if a woman does it.

I think the other reason is just simple prejudice of thinking men are always in the position of power, and not being able to see women as violent.

'What is true that women suffer substantially higher rates of serious injury. Most of the work I've seen on this suggests around a two to one ratio.' Robert

I'm sorry Robert, but I'd have to see actual evidence. My daily observation working in a public hospital is that I've seen men come in with assault injuries-perpetrated by other men. I have not seen a single female inflicted injury on a man this past year. I have in 20 odd years seen ONE man with serious knife wounds-his wife didn't survive that fight.

There simply cannot be any excuse for assault. On the street, man to man, if a man uses greater force against an assailant he is in serious trouble. You must be able to show you were afraid for your life.

For a man to say that he is afraid of his life, though absolutely possible, when attacked by a woman is not likely to be nearly to the extent that some men seem to imply. A woman is a smaller opponent.

These threads so often seem to degenerate into the 'nasty women who want to hold onto victim status'. Neglected children from single mothers are than also dragged in to add 'weight' to the fact that women have never had it so good and are only becoming more nasty by the day, so what are some of you saying? It is OK to batter women because there are so many nasty females around?

Come and spend one month in any emergency department in a public hospital. It is an eye-opener. Not only re DV. Apply to work as a volunteer. Some of you men can than support the male victims of DV. You just might find that you are supporting male perpetrators deal with their remorse, fear and self-loathing.

There was an article a few years ago about research conducted in a SA hospital where it was found that if I remember correctly that a significant number of men presented to ED's with injuries caused by DV.

However men were very likely not to disclose how they received the injuries.

I'll see if I can find the article.

It is true that women are more likely to get injuried. Research conducted here; http://www.franks.org/fr01060.htm.

There seems to be a taboo on trying to explore all the circumstances that lead to physical violence resulting in injury.

In many cases drug or alcohol are significant contributing factors. Yvonne focuses on the end result. Without a clear unbiased understanding of what led up to the injury it is much too easy just to focus on who recieves the injuries.

So, without this understanding it makes reducing the level of violence less effective. It would be much easier to be able prevent physical violence from occuring by being able to identify what the early warning signs are, for example when a situation is likely to spiral out of control, and then to educate people when it necessary to remove themselves from the situation.

Oooh yes please, let's stop violence against men. How do we get men to stop hurting men and boys (and women and girls)? Could we please get men to stop hurting each other and that way they could teach all the violent women how not to be violent.
How do these misogyinst activists cope with the everyday news of injured and dead women and children at the hands of men? How do they deal with the statistical crime data that overwhelmingly shows men are the most active perpetrators of violence in all contexts.
Why is saying 'women are violent too' the most important thing to these men? Why don't they care about men's violence to men?
If Australia was to say no to violence against men, it would have to tell men first because they hurt other men more than women get around to doing.

mog: "How do these misogyinst activists cope with the everyday news of injured and dead women and children at the hands of men? How do they deal with the statistical crime data that overwhelmingly shows men are the most active perpetrators of violence in all contexts."

I guess they cope the same way as misandrists who cannot accept that mothers feature overwhelmingly as perpetrators of child neglect, which severely harms and in some cases kills, thousands of children every year. The incidence of child neglect is increasing every year.

What about dropping the gender wars for a moment to come up with some solutions to the blight that is household violence, of which physical violence against women, awful that it is, is only one part of the whole? Women and men feature equally enough in household abuse, even if they they have their own areas of 'specialty'. Specifically, who will speak for the children who are suffering in silence, or are the points to be won in the gender wars on OLO too precious to be forgotten for a frank and constructive discussion of just one article?

hey corny when you lose an argument go for sentimental references to loving the children aww sounds like the opposition leader on a usual day