Is there an issue more woefully misunderstood that domestic violence? And how much damage is done as a result? How many vulnerable men are left in the cold? How many more remain silent as a consequence? Because despite what you may have been told… guess what: women and men abuse each other at roughly *equal rates.* It’s hard to hear, but no less true. So why do so few people know this? Well, one (of many) reasons is because it’s widely (and correctly) understood that men predominate in all other crimes, especially violent ones. To assume this applies to domestic violence makes sense in some ways. If men are 90% of murderers, then surely they are 90% of abusers too? But no, it doesn’t work like that – and this isn’t correct. Because homicide, like all violent crimes outside of the home, are not really comparable with domestic violence. They are separate issues, with separate motives and risk factors. This false equivalence is giving us a warped and one sided perspective of the issue, that hurts everybody. So how do we do better? How do we see and help all those impacted by domestic violence? How do we treat the issue, not the gender? ~ Sources: US Homicide Rate by sex Professor Sarah L Desmarais Daniel Whitakker PhD  Professor Murray Straus  Images by: Gradienta, Ray Zho and Rene Bohmer

2023-01-06