It was misleading, sexist, and unfair to male victims of domestic violence, for Lauren Zavrel to refer to victims only as “women” in the article, “Domestic violence victims interact on new Web site” (ODE, Nov. 5). Even if male victims were the minority, that wouldn’t justify ignoring them. I’m sure Zavrel would say “men and women” when referring to soldiers or firefighters. Don’t domestic violence victims deserve the same dignity?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, every year there are 4.8 million incidents of intimate partner assaults and rapes against women and 2.9 against men, with 25 percent of the deaths being men.
Harvard Medical School just announced a study showing half of heterosexual domestic violence is reciprocal and women initiate most reciprocal and non-reciprocal violence.
Men are less likely to report it, which makes crime data unreliable; but sociological data consistently shows women initiate domestic violence as often as men and that men suffer one third of the injuries.
Male victims have been ignored, downplayed and covered up for decades, leaving them with no outreach, few services and major social stigmas. So men just take it in silence while their children suffer long-term damage by the exposure. This hidden problem is so serious that a global coalition of concerned experts has formed to combat it. Their Web site is at www.nfvlrc.org.
Marc E. Angelucci
President, National Coalition of Free Men