Who are more likely to be batterers? Men or women?

Question

Sadly, this government report says that men and women are equally likely to assault their spouse or partner.

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

Why do we only hear about violence against women rather than family violence?

Answer 1

there are more men who abuse their wives, but it goes both ways.  I had a friend whose wife abused him regularly.  It was an awful situation.  (He's a little bitty guy.. and he's not the kind of person who would have ever done anything to her and he didn't... - she was just plain mean..)  but I imagine most guys wouldn't go around telling people that his wife abused them would they?

Answer 2

I think the abstract you posted a link to explains it pretty well;

"Most domestic assaults by men, and almost all domestic assaults by women are filtered out because there is no injury and the victim therefore does not consider them a "real crime." In addition, the rates for women are particularly low because both male victims and the police may be especially reluctant to invoke the criminal justice system against women who assault their husbands. However, women produce less injury than do men."

So.. if nobody's bleeding, people seem to think it's not such a big deal, is the upshot, I guess.   But after listening to a guy who just got out of an abusive relationship reflexively apologize to me for *the weather* and other things that were clearly completely beyond his control or utterly trivial, it's pretty clear to me that people need to open their eyes and realize that women can be abusers too, and men can be harmed.

Answer 3

If you put a man and women next to each other and ask someone to point to the abuser its human nature to pick out the male since he is taller, has bigger mussels and can natural look more aggressive compared to a women who looks nurturing, soft, less aggressive by nature

Answer 4

Men just batter better.  So you hear about it more.

Answer 5

I think that because both men and women belong to the human race, an inherently violent species, it is specious to allocate the quality of violence to just a part of it. In my experience and observations women are at least equally capable of the same violence men carry most of the blame for.

Answer 6

The government are running a scam on the public, they have to run the justice dept, like a business. they have quotas they have to meet in order to keep a job and to get money from you and I. They pretend they are doing it to help US, but they are in it for themselves(the brotherhood). I watched a COPS show once, and a prego woman was trying to stab her BF and he put his hands out to keep from getting stabbed(natural re-act) and the cop tackled the guy saying out loud(for the cameras) Hey! get away from her and landed the guy off the porch, and the cop still arrested him for attacking her, The cop Lied his but off, but as long as they can use domestic violence as a way to enter homes and arrest people, then they have Job Security, and If that isn't enough, the Judges and Psychologist are in on it, The Judge sends Men to the shrink for a mental evaluation, The shrink is looking and one more to his group and $4000.00 in his pocket just for telling the judge the guy is a problem, now the court(judge)orders DV classes Probation fines Restraining orders and more, everybody wins, Not only have I saw this with my own eyes, but the little crack head just before went home with another warning for his 4th probation violation because he didn't have a job(he was caught selling crack)The working guy lost his home Job family and has to pay support because his wife was cheating on him, Ain't that America.

Answer 7

In MY house when I was growing up. BOTH my parents were abusers. they BOTH were drinkers and mean.

Anyone Male OR Female can become an abuser. why don't we hear about it more? GOOD question. I think we maybe starting to hear a few things about both being abusive.

We need to wake up and learn that violence is a HUMAN problem NOT a gender one. we need to know Men need support also. my dad had his jaw broken the week before he died by my mom. so a woman CAN hurt a man. NO matter how little the women is. Good question. God bless

EDIT: To anyone who think women can't do anything to hurt men. I would like to tell you about my dad he was 250 pounds a big man. my mom is 96 pounds. not big. still when she gets mad and she has enough hate and anger she can hurt a grown man. she broke my dad's jaw. and a few other times she broke his bones. ANYONE who has enough anger can and will hurt another person. my dad was proof of that. God Bless

Answer 8

Because women are far more likely to be injured.

As that article clearly says.

Answer 9

Because it's not the NORM - whatever that means.

Answer 10

This shows how politically powerful and dishonest the feminist lobby is.  They paint the problem as all male on female to get what they want.

Answer 11

Both..There are a lot of women who are verbal/emotional/financial abusers, but recognizing verbal/emotional abuse is a recent phenomenon.

When people think of abuse, they think of some man beating his wife up.    Female abusers may not hit, but they can be just as damaging.  Just ask all the people who grew up with verbally abusive mothers.

Answer 12

It defiantly can be either! I have had allot of friends that have come from backgrounds that each have had women and men that have been abusive. If a man gets attack it is not reported nearly as much because he is so afraid of what others will think.

Answer 13

Statistics, and particularly crime statistics can be presented in strange ways...find out how big the sample in the crime survey was, how many incidences...how did the police record the incident?

What is there definition of domestic abuse?

We here about violence against women for two reasons -

1. Cos it actually happens to us - look at the State Depts. /British Crime Survey figures regarding domestic abuse, overwwhelmingly women are the victims

2. Fear of crime whether real or perceived serves to control women socially.  

E.g serial rapist at large...what happens? All men are ordered to stay home...no, women, are ADVISED by police not to be out at certain times, alone etc..

Without doubt women can be aggressive, violent and dangerous...but next time you watch the news and a kid is missing, a house burgled, a car stolen, a football riot going on, and fighting in the street, and you say to yourself I hope they catch her, then we have achieved equality in at least one area!

Answer 14

These statistics are only capable of reflecting REPORTED cases. Who's more likely to report a spouse's physical abuse? The husband or the wife? The ACTUAL number of physical abuses might change if non-reports could somehow be counted.

Answer 15

Who knows who knows. Men run the world, ask them why they don't report more about these things. It is weird huh.

Answer 16

thats jus stupid...  MEN r the batterers!!!  an there lots stronger an biger than us so they can hurt us real bad...  theres nothing a woman can do that wud hurt a guy...

Answer 17

It's a serious and sad fact that women get hurt.  However under new laws, many women use false claims to get extra money & privileges.  Men are more likely not to report episodes of DV including verbal, emotionally, physical and mental abuse.