The way much of society talks about intimate partner violence is cartoonish, antiquated, and exclusionary. So often it leans heavily into tragic, headline grabbing stories of intimate partner homicide, with talk of terrible facts pertaining to ‘every three days a women is killed by a male partner’. Sensational headlines are splattered across newspapers, where campaigners march the streets, virtuous politicians beat there chests on soapboxes, and social media explodes into a usual frenzy. But whilst such stories are important – and all deaths a tragedy – I must admit, I often think it misses the point. Because, for me, it’s more helpful to look at the wider, every day forms of abuse, that quietly reverberate thoughout households without a moments notice. The silent cycle of violence; lapping at our feet, that slowly escalates over years, or even decades, to brutal, and sometimes tragic consequences. This, more ‘mundane’ violence, is where the battle must be won. Because it’s easier to snuff out a match, than to extinguish a raging inferno. But we don’t do that. Instead, we wait and watch as the single flame, becomes a fire; setting alight to millions of homes across the world, and we only act when it’s already too late. So how can we turn the tide of intimate partner violence? And is the key to intervene far earlier, and from on both sides, to break the cycle of violence? What do you think? Talking with Simeon from @the_meaning_of_men Full podcast at https://tinyurl.com/yh7m9dv5 Fatalities related to intimate partner violence: a comprehensive perspective https://tinyurl.com/3hmr5nez

2026-01-12