http://www.mankind.org.uk/myth.pdf

1. Very few men are victims of domestic violence

Not true - From the graph below, using Home Office figures, it is evident
that there

are over 100,000 men who are beaten up so badly by their partners that their

complaints to the police have to be logged.

Fig1. Trends in reported male and female domestic violence, 1995 -2000 (000)

[Note: Please use provided link to view the Graphic not reproduced here.]

2. It is women who experience domestic violence and it is men who perpetrate

such violence

Not true - Look at the graph above which uses Home Office statistics. A
recent

survey from Canada found women were 5 times more likely to report a DV
incident

than men. A more representative gauge of the number of DV incidents (both
reported

and unreported) can be gleaned Home Office Study 191. From a large cross
section of

the population of England and Wales, this showed that 4.2% of women and 4.2%
of

men reported they had been physically assaulted by their current or former
partner in

the last year". When "frightening threats" are included the
figures rises
only

marginally to 4.9% of men and 5.9% of women.

3. Domestic violence is experienced by all women across all social classes

Not true - While instances of domestic violence may be found in all social
strata it is

predominately found in the lower socio-economic orders. Page viii of HOS 191
states

that amongst women, risks of physical assault in 1995 were highest for those
who

were 16 - 24 year old age group; separated from their spouses; Council
tenants; in

poor health; and/or in financial difficulties.

4. Men initiate and perpetrate domestic violence

Not true - Studies from around the world indicate that women initiate
domestic

violence more often than men. The Alberta Study found that women initiated

domestic violence in 67% of instances. This finding is echoed in other large
studies.

Studies showing the contrary, ie that only men initiate domestic violence,
are usually

found to be small sample numbers and/or based on the responses of women in

refuges.

5. Two women a week die as a result of domestic violence

This is partly true - This is the latest twist in the saga to keep an old
story fresh.

While 2 women on average die each week we are never told how many men die
each

week. Annually, twenty five percent of all domestic violence homicide
victims are

men. In the last few years the number of male victims of homicide has rising
from

around 700 per year to around 800 per year.

6. Men can't possibly be victims of domestic violence because I would have

heard about it?

Not true - Domestic violence is now big business with millions of pounds of
funding

at stake. In London alone over £9.3 million is earmarked for refuges and the
Chiswick

refuge alone has an income of over £3m. As the number of domestic violence
victims

fall so the definition of domestic violence has had to be widened in recent
years in an

attempt to re inflate the figures and head off any hint of a funding review.

7. Women's Aid is the leading charity associated with domestic violence. If

men were also victims of domestic violence they would have said so

Not true - Women's Aid have known about the problem for years. In 1992
Sandra

Horley, the director of the Chiswick Family Refuge, was quoted by Isabel
Wolff as

saying "Refuges for women are struggling to survive, and if we put across
this idea

that the abuse of men is as great as the abuse of women, then it could
seriously affect

our funding"('Domestic Violence: the other side', The Spectator, 28 November
1992,

p 24).

8. Government figures show that '1 in 4' women suffer domestic violence

Not true - This is a classic instance of a "factoid". Factoids are
assertions made in the

furtherance of propaganda and / or an ideological viewpoint and presented as
facts

that are, a). Wholly untrue b).is partially true in that they omit crucial
evidence,

c).contain only a grain of truth and, d).Are generally designed to mislead
the reader.

This factoid assertion falls into the b), c) and d) categories. What the
government

survey found was that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic abuse (ie
including

psychological and not just physical assaults) at some point in their
lifetime. We are

not told this include "feeling afraid" and verbal abuse. We are
not told the
length of

the "lifetime" or average age; nor the form of domestic violence.
Statistically it is

meaningless. It is as useful as asserting that 1 in 4 gardeners will injure
themselves

doing the garden at some time in their lifetime. Domestic violence is now
defined as

all things, including 'financial' domestic violence and 'glaring looks', and
fear

thereof. The measure of domestic violence therefore misleads the reader. But

crucially, what the report also stated - and which is always omitted - is
that by the

same measure 1 in 6 men will experience domestic violence.

The UK has a female population of 30 million; 23.5million of which are over
18. If '1

in 4' women suffered domestic violence this would result in 5.9 million
women have

been abused by their male partners. The average women's refuge (there are
about

400) would each have to cater for 15,000 victims. The average women's refuge

presently caters for less than 100 per annum.

9. Sometimes domestic violence proves fatal

This is true - Every week both men and women loose their lives as a result
of

domestic violence. Police figures show that around one male and two females
die

each week.

HOS 191 reports that women aged 20 -24 reported the highest levels of
domestic

violence in the survey; 28% said they had been assaulted by a partner at
some time

and 34% had been threatened or assaulted (the figures for men are similar).
The

victim was injured in 47% of incidents .. Women 47% and men 31% ... 9% of

incidents resulted in cuts and 2% in broken bones.

Harriet Harman, the governments new Solicitor General, wants to change the
law so

that women - but not men - accused of murder are tried as if for a lesser
offence.

She wants to re-instate notions of preferential treatment for females last
seen in the

Victorian era.

10. Women of all ages experienced domestic violence

Not true - On page 28 of HOS 191, Figure 4.1 "Prevalence of domestic
assaults"

depicts a reverse logistical curve for incidents of domestic violence
decreasing with

age. Groupings begin high in the 16-19 group and taper down to 55-59. There
is little

difference between men and women. Page viii of HOS 191 states that amongst

women, risks of physical assault in 1995 were highest for those who were
16 - 24

year old age group. Women aged 20 -24 reported the highest levels of
domestic

violence in the survey. This is also true for men.

11. Domestic violence is worse among ethnic minorities

Not true - HOS 191, page 29 Summary of Figure 4.2 "Risk of domestic assault
in

1998 by ethnic group". There is only a half of one percent point
differentiating Whites

from Blacks, Indians and Pakistanis.

12. Statistics show far more women as victims of domestic violence than men

Not true - See answers above. What is true is that women are far more likely
to

report instances of domestic violence and cause official figures to reflect
this. If we

accept that not all women who experience domestic violence will report it,
then we

must also accept that male victims are even more unlikely to report it. It
is estimated

that women are 5 times more likely to report domestic violence than men
according to

a Canadian survey (12/8/02). Some years earlier the Sunday Times (GB) and
the Los

Angeles Times, independently, estimated that men were about 9 time less
likely to

report DV incidents. At the moment the rate of reported domestic violence
crimes in

England and Wales is 5:1 in favour of women. What is not appreciated is that
men

reporting the same crime to the police frequently do not have their
complaints logged.

In fact a small survey by Dispatches (Ch 4, 1999) found that 25% of men who

reported being attacked by their female partner are arrested and taken into
police

custody. Homosexual men, seen perhaps as a minority (?), are thought to do
slightly

better in regard having their complaint logged by police.

13. Every 6 to 20 seconds a woman is abused by the man she lives with

Not true - Few people ever question this claim and therefore few realise it
is perhaps

another Prof. Betsy Stanko factoid. There are about 23 million women in
England &

Wales between ages of 16 - 60. At the rate of every 6 seconds the number
would be

5.3 million women. At the rate of every 20 seconds 1.5 million women would
be

victims. Such wide discrepancy is not statistically supportable .Bea
Campbell, the

radical feminist and lesbian, went further and in an article for the
Guardian claimed

women victims phoned the police every second of every day. If that were true
over

31m cases would be occurring every year - the female population of England &

Wales is 23.5 million.

14. All women must be aware of, and live in fear of domestic violence

Not true - The incidence is very low (see above, 4.2%) Only one or two
categories

are more dangerous than the others and then only marginally, ie the 16-24
and the

'single' person.

15. 'The home' is a violent place for all women. Married and professional

women are equally a risk

Not true - HOS 191 found that a married wife (from any socio-economic

background) was far safer - with a risk of around 2% (page 29). Compared to

households comprised of the less skilled, manual workers and the unemployed,

professional women (which included married, unmarried, single and cohabiting

women) also reported a low risk of 6% and 3% respectively, (page 30).

16. Domestic violence affects all women irrespective of their marital status

Not true - Unmarried women are far more likely to experience domestic
violence

than any other category, ie married women and widows. HOS 191 found that the

lowest 'at risk' group was married women at 2%. This figure is also found in

Canadian family statistics. Overall, the figures would suggest there is
little merit in

constant monitoring large segments of the population. What may confuse the
general

public is the propensity for official figures to include in their definition
of 'wives' not

only spouses but common law wives and long term cohabiters. When the figures
are

desegregated married women are far safer from domestic violence. If any
women

should feel threatened by the possibility of domestic violence then marriage
and a

home is the best protection.

17. Domestic violence is very common. Figures for are not declining - it is
a

growing menace

Not true - The latest Home Office figures for domestic violence show a fall
in

numbers. In fact, there has been a 30% fall in the last 2 years and over the
last 7 years

the numbers of reported domestic violence cases has fallen year on year (see
Fig 1). In

fact, levels of domestic violence are now at levels last seen in the 1980's.

18. Men who are violent towards their wives are also violent to their
children

This is almost true - A link is thought to exist between the two but its
nature has yet

to be determined. This is another 'factoid' premised on the assumption that
all men

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