Response to
The Herald
Danny Blay
Monday, 26 November 2007
Manager No To Violence Male Family Violence Prevention Association (NTV) Inc.
Incorporating the Men's Referral Service
Michael Woods (The Herald, 26/11/07) again grossly misrepresents the issue of men's violence towards women and family members by fudging the data.
The facts about men's violence are unequivocal. While it is acknowledged that more men experience violence than women overall, the vast majority of family and intimate partner violence is used by men towards women. Furthermore, the majority of all of the violence experienced by men is from other men (77 per cent), not women.
The ABS' Personal Safety Survey, to which Woods refers, states clearly that 4.4 per cent of all males physically assaulted in the last 12 months were assaulted by a current or previous female partner in the most recent incident, while 31 per cent of females were physically assaulted by a current or previous male partner. This alone shows a massive gender bias regarding physical assault in the home. It also states that over one-third (39.9 per cent) of Australian women report experiencing at least one incident of physical violence or sexual violence since the age of 15. 29 per cent of all women (2,243,600 women) had experienced physical assault, and 17 per cent (1,293,100) had experienced sexual assault.
A 2004 study showed that nearly two-thirds (57 per cent) of Australian women report experiencing at least one incident of physical violence or sexual violence by a man over their lifetime. Just under half (48 percent) have experienced physical violence, and one-third (34 percent) have experienced sexual violence. Over a third of women (34 per cent) who have ever had a boyfriend or husband report experiencing at least one form of violence during their lifetime from an intimate male partner. About half have experienced physical violence and a third had experienced sexual violence.
These figures also do not reflect other forms of violence, abuse and controlling behaviours men often use towards women.
Woods' claim that men are more reluctant to report violence than women is also a furphy. Studies from around the world and Australia regularly report a figure in excess of 80 per cent of women not reporting violence they have experienced. Even if 90 or 95 per cent of men don't report the violence, the figures still don't compare.
Woods' claims about the numbers of men killed in domestic homicides also hide the real picture. A 2000 study showed that 94 per cent of adult female victims of homicide are killed by males, mostly in the context of an intimate relationship. In comparison, while males outnumber females as victims of homicides, only 11 per cent of adult males are killed by intimate partners. Barely a week goes by where a woman somewhere in Australia isn't found dead at home, in the boot of a car or in a shallow grave - deaths at the hands of their current or former partner that they did not deserve and that is wholly the responsibility of the man.
Woods also claims that Australians do not support cultural norms regarding violence against women, and indeed, the vast majority of men who attend Victoria's 35 Men's Behaviour Change Programs or call the Men's Referral Service would agree. However, they have still used violence towards their family members - the primary reason why they seek help to change. It's one thing to talk it, another to walk it.
Ultimately, Woods' claims do a great disservice to the men he seeks to support. While men are overwhelmingly responsible for family and intimate partner violence, they also subsequently suffer the humiliation of being caught up in the judicial system, or at best the grief of losing a relationship and access to children due to the use of violence in the past. Perhaps if fewer men used violence towards women, we would be concurrently addressing a raft of issues men face today.
Nobody doubts that some men experience violence from women, but overwhelmingly it is us, the men, who do almost all the damage. Fudging the figures only continues to keeping the issue silent and hidden. White Ribbon Day is about men being active in stopping violence. Woods would do worse than to get on board.
Danny Blay
Manager
No To Violence Male Family Violence Prevention Association (NTV) Inc.
Incorporating the Men's Referral Service
PO Box 3022
Victoria Gardens Richmond VIC 3121
p: 61 3 9428 3536
f: 61 3 9428 7513
m: 0417 690 311
w: www.ntv.net.au
The Men's Referral Service (MRS) is offering men the opportunity to
become volunteer Telephone Counsellors working to assist other men to
end their violence and abuse towards family members. The training is a
Graduate Certificate in Social Science-Male Family Violence and is
accredited through Swinburne University of Technology and the MRS.
Contact us for further details.