All victims deserve the same outreach

We applaud the gender-neutral name change of the domestic violence shelter to include male victims. (Tuesday editorial, “Shelter’s name change reflects critical progress.”) Thank you for covering this. Please note, however, that it is not correct to say “The majority of abuse is still male to female.” Men are still less likely than women to report it to police, which makes crime data unreliable, but sociological data consistently shows women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men, that men suffer one-third of physical injuries and that self-defense does not explain away this violence, as California State University Professor Martin Fiebert demonstrates in his online bibliography at www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm.

For example, a recent University of Washington study found “nearly twice as many women as men said they perpetrated domestic violence in the past year including kicking, biting or punching their partner, threatening to hit or throw something at their partner, and pushing, grabbing or shoving their partner.” The study is at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625111433.htm. Other studies have found women are as violent as men in relationships even when looking only at women’s responses.

We work with men who have been stabbed, cut with glass and had their teeth knocked out with objects by female partners. They and their children, who are damaged just by seeing it, deserve the same outreach, treatment and dignity as any other victims, but instead they’re often stigmatized and told they’re oddball class even though they are not.

Thank you again for doing a great job on covering this story.

Marc E. Angelucci