'If there was a large need for help for men who are victims of domestic violence, then we would have men's refuges dotted around our communities to keep them safe.'

Hahhaa. Classic circular argument.

If there was a large need for men to do more housework, then there would be men everywhere doing a lot more housework.

If women are interested in being paid the same as men, then they are as free to access the jobs that pay very well as anyone else.

This is fun Suze.

Susie, the spin you put in your post is clearly aimed to minimise taking violence against men seriously. Including the comment "Naturally, some women will fight back during domestic violence incidents, and men will get hurt as well." which looks like you are trying to suggest that women are generally only violent in response to the males violence.

Sexist rubbish. You have constantly done whatever you can over your years to side tack and minimise discussion of violence against men in domestic situations. When confronted with evidence you retreat to what you want to believe and never ever show the guts to confront the evidence.

You may want to believe that your geneder is more virtuous than men but that does not make it so. Human beings are human beings, those who want to do wrong will use whatever they can get away with irrespective of gender.

Given the other biases in the system the male with an abusive spouse may be in a far harder position to escape than the female other than in the most extreme situations.

Your sexism is offensive. Expect to be called on it time after time.

R0bert

You're such a misogynist r0bert.

Poirot, I just read that report you linked. sorry I didn't get to it earlier. It says that women are choosing to leave relationships and finding themselves homeless. That's tragic. However, it raises a few questions.

For example, why are they leaving? Rev Garner hypothesises, but without any supporting evidence, that "One reason may well be that in fact people have now more guts, they're not going to stand being in a home situation where they're abused and violence is the norm," he said. "

On the other hand, one reason may well be that their relationship is not coping with the lack of work for men and the financial pressure that places on all parties.

Another reason may be that when they go to Centrelink they see lots of posters telling them that if their partner yells at them they're victims of violence. They don't see any that say they shouldn't start the yelling.

Another reason may be that they think they will be able to access housing support as a single parent that they can't access as a member of a couple.

Another reason may be that when they seek counselling from women's support groups they are told they are being oppressed and that they must "empower" themselves by leaving the family home or they will surely be victims of physical violence. They don't get told how to improve the family's financial situation or how to negotiate with their partner to work out how to get ahead.

Another reason may be that they acted impulsively out of a desire to hurt their partner during an argument.

Another reason may be that their partner expects them to work to help to make ends meet, which makes them feel pressured, so they leave to avoid the bad feeling.

Another reason may be that their partner is depressed because he can't find work and they don't know how to help, or he is not responsive to help, so they run rather than persist.

Funny that Rev Garner and the ABC didn't mention those other possibilities, don't you think?

Good posts, RÛbert and Antiseptic.