Should there be a Violence Against Men Act?

Question

since women are just as likely to be batterers?

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED312576&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED312576

(The text of the act would be the same as VAWA except the words men and women would be reversed.)

Answer 1

there shouldn't be any special laws for protecting any group, everyone should be addressed equally

Answer 2

Yes.

Answer 3

If this is the case where are the male victims?  And if women are as violent will someone please tell the police...well the whole of the Criminal Justice System as the courts are simply not responding to the threat in the UK...

Answer 4

Yep.

Answer 5

Black Betty - I can cause just as much damage as a guy!!

Answer 6

Gender should be absolutely ignored in every single situation X_x

Answer 7

well everyone should be protected on a social level but physically most men are stronger than women ! are you sure you aren't just weak or merely ranting and whining over something that isn't even important?? .. think about it

_thesmartestofthemall

Answer 8

yeah..

woman are going on how hard they have it. but its not a walk in the park being a man.

we have bills, payments, looking after, fights, pride etc. were human just like women

Answer 9

They should be gender neutral. Here's the problem men face: Men are generally a lot stronger than women, so when a he's being assaulted by a woman and he chooses to defend himself, HE is the one who more likely to get punished because he was the male in the situation and he "should have known better", she will be seen as the "victim" even though she was the one doing the provoking.

Answer 10

I believe that VAWA (should have) has taught us to realize that no Acts, Laws, .... should be s*x-specific. If one group of people use it more than others, then so be it.... but it should never exclude anyone that needs help.

Victims should never be turned away.

Answer 11

Generally men are much stronger than women. Whether they choose to use that or not, they are capable of causing greater damage.

Answer 12

I agree that the language of this act should be gender neutral.  My brother-in-law was shot to death by his abusive wife after years of her abusing him (she had stabbed him with a screwdriver and also had slammed his head in a door and then called his parents to come get him).  She got a life sentence plus 20 years for committing a felony with a handgun.  In real life she was out in 17 years.

It's unusual for a man to stay in a situation like this; men are more likely to leave an abuser than women are, and this seems to be for economic reasons (an abused man in general isn't a "house husband" just because that isn't so common in our society).  However that doesn't mean that men don't need to be protected, too.

I would like to point out that the original question posits that "women are just as likely to be batterers."  This is simply not true.  The victim is far more commonly female.  About 23% of women and 11% of men report that they have been abused by a partner/spouse/etc. at some point in their lives.  Women are a lot more likely to be hospitalized after being beaten up by a spouse and are also more likely to repeat the pattern and get involved with another abuser if they do get out.

Answer 13

There is - domestic violence coverd all genders under the Equality Act.

Answer 14

yes, and this is something that should to be understood from the get go.

Answer 15

I have no problem with that, especially since I have no intent to assault any man any time soon. But if it helps you feel safer, go ahead and enact it.

You may want to include something on intra-gender violence too, since most violence that men are exposed to is at the hands of other men...

EDIT: The VAWA is gendered because it was demanded by women. However, I don't see why men shouldn't benefit from it as well. There is no room for violence in the home no matter who is perpetrating it.

Answer 16

Well lets see:

My husband is twice my size and naturally stronger so if I hit him he could knock my head off rather than call the police

Most women who become abused experience the abuse first when they are pregnant. Kinda hard to fight when you're worrying about the little one.

In most traditional households, the male works, has all the money, credit and social contacts so it's much easier for him to leave an abusive wife and still be financially ok. Women usually have to take the children and live in a shelter.

So no. Just because some study says there is equal incidents of abuse, men and women are not generally in the same situation in life so rewording this VAWA would probably be pretty useless.

Why are men so eager to be seen as victims nowadays anyhow? Trust me, it isn't fun.

Answer 17

actually there is spousal abuse is illegal nation wide regardless which spouse is doing the abusing or being abused. read a little more.

Answer 18

Although the popular name of the act is the Violence Against Women Act, the definitions make clear that in application the law is gender neutral.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c1...

I wish they hadn't called it VAWA because that name misrepresents the contents of the law. I support a gender neutral name.

Answer 19

It's a deal. And to be totally fair,  you can add "and women" to the bit about equality in the consitution. Yay!

Answer 20

Gun Fanatic is right. Laws should apply to everyone.

VAWA is sexist and discriminatory against men.

Having one the other way around would just be as sexist, imo.

We need gender neutral laws. Violence Against Anyone Act.

Answer 21

Yes there should be. It should also be illegal for treatment to wards genders based on certain stereotyping - women gentle weak and caring and men as strong brutish and violent - it places courts among other places in a very capricious predicament.

@black betty - no not really, the second you pick up a weapon against a man you know will refuse to hit you ever pretty much reverses that - even if he does then fight back - strength isnt a characteristic of abuse - abuse is.

@louise - try reading around sometime, current stats apprently place female against male violence at 55%. and increasing - the one thing they al show is it is increasing. They also show that men dont report it or are ridiculed when they do. "aww the big strong man got beat up by the lil girly".

Your another that likes to pretend it doesnt exist, only women are victims right?

Answer 22

Laws should be gender neutral; that's why we need to get rid of sexist laws like the VAWA.

Answer 23

I don't see why there isn't an act against violence in general. Why does it have to do with gender? All kinds of people are violent and there are also all kinds of victims (men, women, kids, animals etc.) They should just have a generic anti-violence act, or one against violence in intimate relationships and families.

Answer 24

Yes, but it will probably never happen. The feminist lobby (like all other lobbies & special interest groups) controls Congress. It will never happen.

The sentiments of the public don't matter. The money of the lobby and special interest groups makes their agenda into law. The is the first rule to American policy making, money talks louder than anything else.

Answer 25

Battered Fish........Good.

Battered Women.....Scream too much in deep fryer.

Borat

Answer 26

Completely!