“Attacking his self-worth through various forms of criticism, manipulation and intimidation are forms of emotional and verbal violence that we need to learn about as a society and say ‘Enough!’””

If this is the case, then domestic violence on males must be 100%.

I can’t remember ever hearing one single positive comment or word said about the male gender from a feminist, and rarely have I heard such from any woman.

The number one area of concern is the education system. I have never once heard any teacher in a school or any lecturer in a university ever say one single positive word regards boy students or about men, and this trains girls to believe it is totally acceptable to carry out insults, denigration and maligning of males, just like their teachers.

The devaluing of males eventually leads women to believing it is totally acceptable to continuously nag and ridicule their husbands, eventually leading to domestic violence, with numerous studies now showing about 70% of domestic violence is initiated by the woman.

Women initiate the majority of domestic violence, men cause most injuries.

Being seen as blokes who get beaten-up by women is a disaster for the men's movement. I know that attitudes about manliness need to change, but lets not straw too far from community expectations. Many feminists have tried to be too far "ahead" of the rest of society and have only damaged their own cause. Instead, lets aim to challenge the assumption that she is probably the victim and he is the villan. We could also limit the free kicks that women get from the justice system, mainly the family court.

Daviy: where did you get the statistic from?

Excellent piece, Greg, and excellent website too. The page debunking the misinformation that is perpetuted by so many of our government organisations, not to mention the media and even Amnesty. The UN would be another fruitful ground for such misleading propaganda.

You might also like to examine which "new figures" the WRD release in the Courier-Mail was referring to, that "reveal" "MORE than half of Australian women will face some form of sexual or physical violence in their lifetime.

And almost 100,000 women a year experience sexual assault"

Benk, I take your point, but the constant misinformation and taxpayer-funded propaganda campaigns are going directly to the heart of the issue. Ths Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant has recently called for a change to the Family Law so that if allegations of violence are made in the context of a Family Law matter, they must be investigated. She makes the point that 50% of Family Law matters involve claims of violence, yet those claims rarely get examined or even become part of the final orders sought.

She's concerned they might be porkies.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/family-court-appeal-on-violence/story-e6frg97x-1225803970787

The other point that should be made is that neither men nor women suffer violence at anywhere near the rate trumpeted hysterically by the various propagandists and the vast majority of "violence" as it is currently defined is neither serious nor unilateral, nor does it exist in isolation. Examining the common factors is a good place to start looking at how to intervene usefully.

Even grasping a woman to restrain her from hitting you may leave bruises and *bingo* anonther violent man can be recorded. If no physical evidence can be found, he "intimidated" you. The plight of a few can be abused by the many to their own advantage.

What a pleasure (if that is the word) to see so many people willing to look at an issue that is usually taboo. 'Women instigate the violence, men cause most injuries'. Whilst this is true of the injuries I don't think it is right to label women the instigators. To move forward on this issue we need to de-sex domestic violence. There are perpetrators and there are victims.

The sex of either does not matter. The labelling of men as the perpetrators in DV is the most blatant case of sexual discrimination I can think of. Why should there be so much support for women and none for men? End the discrimination and provide the same support for all victims, and the same programs for all perpetrators. Please don't make it 'Them and Us'.

Benk. The statistic came from the working models developed by the Alcohol and Drug Institute I worked with for some years. The working model also had a very strong correlation between alcohol and violence. In 50% of Australian marriages alcohol is a factor. Where alcohol is a factor violence also occurs in 50% of the cases. 50% of the time the man is the perpetrator and 50% it is the woman. This where the figure that one in 8 women are subject to DV come from (2/2=4 4/2 =8). But the 1 in 8 men who are also subjected to DV are ignored.

There are some very interesting studies that have been done on alcohol and addiction that do not make it into the general arena. Unfortunately when I ceased to work in the area I did not retain the references. I had reach the overlaod stage and passed my 'use-by' date in the area. Please do the research and you will find some surprising results.

What Greg Andresen has said in this article is not unknown. It can be backed up by any number of sources. What I find so good about the article is that at last someone is pushing to get the issue out into the public arena.

Vanna

"I can’t remember ever hearing one single positive comment or word said about the male gender from a feminist, and rarely have I heard such from any woman"

I am a feminist, I find the White Ribbon day being embraced by the type that often indulge in patronising style sexism. I also see adult women subjected to male violence within marriage not only remain in the relationship out of choice but CHOOSE to have children which really is straight down the line child abuse. Women fight for the right to abortion due to the principle they should alone have control of their bodies..so then they should control what happens to it. No excuse. There can be some valid debate for men and women being trapped emotionally in negative relationships but not to have children in heavily conflicted homes.

About saying a nice word about men. The only unconditional love I have ever experienced was from a male. My hero, a legend. His name was Dad.

There is no doubt that all victims of abuse should be supported both symbolically and practically.

Like many forms of abuse (Forgotten Australians, rape victims, child abuse etc) it is not until people start talking about the abuse that it is raised in the public's psyche and then conscience.

It would be sad if we could not support both male and female victims and it is great to see organisations that have opened up their doors to male victims for advice and support.