Probably a well beaten topic. 'cuse the pun.

I was watching Judge Judy today (yeah, I know) and two individuals stood up and made idiots of themselves on international tele.....again. The point though, was the guy stated his missus hit him a couple of times with the frying pan in the head. Just like it caused you to smile, a cackle of laughter rippled through the 'court room'.

If SHE had said she was struck in the head with a frying pan no one would be smiling.

Why is this?.

The Holy Bible considers the female as the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7).
The law regards it so as well.

I think there is a general expectation that men are rougher and more carnal and want the female sometimes to the detriment of the female.

Dear StG,

Graham Stockdale, MA - presented a paper for the Australian Crime Prevention Council Conference called,
"The Hidden Domestic Violence: Myths and Realities."

It answers your question far better than I ever could:

www.mensrights.com.au/page13z1.htm

Here's a small sampling, and I quote:

"Many will argue that domestic violence is an open-and-shut case, that is, male violence. We hear little else in the media.
I am not so sure that the community accepts the argument that it is
always men who are violent in the home, despite the dominance of
media attention given to women. I know that politicians are falling over themselves in the race to show they are gender aware, but they are politicians after all. My discussions with hundreds of people in the last few years - during my course of study - convince me that
people are much more realistic in their understanding of domestic
violence, women as often as men ..."

Data confirming domestic violence against men is given.

The website may be of interest to you and other posters.

It may change some perceptions.

Yeah, but

To violence against men, Australia says nothing.

I was brought up to never hit a girl, regardless of if she hits first. Men are considered stronger and should be able to handle themselves. I think that is pretty close to the community attitude. Be a man.

You see it in movies. Women throws dishes at the guy and punches and kicks, but the guy stays cool and doesn't react. Women quite often slap men in the face as a response to saying something rude.

Women are brought up to be able to hit men, as they are unlikely to hurt them seriously. They are also told they are free to lose control of their emotions and be histerical.

What they should be told, is not all men are happy to accept violence without retaliating. It would be a safer campaign than telling them, once again, they are the 'special' gender, to be protected no matter what their behaviour. Note men don't hit people bigger than them because they know they may well get hit back. It's all about being responsible for your actions. I could hit Mike Tyson in the face and I'm sure he wouldn't blink, but if he then rearanged my face I would not be surprised and accept I got what I deserved.

But the feminist PC brigade are too scared of this message of personal responsibility, or of accepting that it's quite common in DV that both the man and the woman are violent, it's just the woman is more likely to be injured. It affects the status quo of women as victims to depict domestic violence honestly.

I once had a partner throwing punches at me, and when I grabbed her arms to restrain her, she said she would call the police as that's domestic violence. She was probably right too, if you look at the government adverts. Domestic violence is defined as men hitting women, and it's not going to change any time soon.

Foxy the point Usual Suspect makes is a good one. A lot of people know that women hit men but think thats no real problem.

I had several marriage councellors dismiss my ex's violence making the point that she was smaller than me and unlikely to do serious harm. The message that DV is a male thing is so pervasive that people don't see the problem when it's right in front of them.

I had a different view, an unexpected punch in the wrong place can be incapacitating leaving you open to further injury. I was punched repeatedly once while driving a car (busy traffic and no where to pull over).

I've been posting references to studies which show similar rates of DV between men and women on OLO for several years and the only one who has ever come close to engaging me on the material has been SJF who's response has been to describe the methodology used as discredited (and post some of the criticisms of the methodology). SJF at least has reasons for ignoring those studies.

Others who are generally thoughtful posters and given to evidence based discussion appear unable to overcome the weight of inertia on this issue and actually consider the arguments. Some will conceed that the rate of hitting may be similar and fall back to the level of serious injury stats which do show a gender difference but which are no reflection of the content of DV promotions.

None that I can recall have commented on the apparent link between women hitting men and increased risk of serious injury (I've see some research demonstrating that link but not enough to be highly confident).

If you want an informative read on the the issues around female violence and the way it's portrayed in society get hold of a copy of Patricia Pearson's book "When She Was Bad".

R0bert

The comments made so far are pretty accurate regarding society's perceptions. One Liberal male politician once told a Democrats female politician not to get too upset because she might hit him with her handbag. Of course the House fell into laughter. While it was meant to be a sexist jibe, the perception of women acting violently or inflicting harm is not seen as a 'real' issue.

I would disgree with Usual Suspects dig at PC feminists "acceptance of personal responsibility". I have never seen any feminists on OLO or elsewhere advocating that women are absolved of responsibility if they commit a violent act.

Violence as a rule should not be acceptable in any situation. As one poster said a few months ago denying that serious violence against women occurs (given the number of battered women that turn up in emergency or at shelters) or to diminish the problem to appease the PC males on this forum is offensive.

I have never seen any of these PC male posters offer sympathy or condolences to the issue of battered women, only denial of the extent of the problem. As if somehow diminishing abused women's issues will give weight to the causes of battered men. I don't know the figures on battered men but attitudes like this will only do those men a disservice. The domestic violence problem should be met together in unison not by division or derision.

By contrast, feminist posters on OLO without exception (that I know of) have agreed that women are equally at fault if they use violence to express their anger and argue for more equitable attention for abused men. Feminists certainly don't see themselves as a 'special gender'.