Every few days the world shakes with another story of a woman being killed by her male partner, or ex partner. The same headlines are written across the same front pages. The same promises are made by the same politicians. The same funding is poured into the same organizations, only for the same thing to happen again, and again, and again. Nothing seems to change. Except the volume and scale of anger, and the division between the sexes every time it does. So is it time we let go of the political, ideological, and sociological frameworks of intimate partner homicide, and instead looked at the psychology? Male psychology, which has been sorely lacking from the discussion, that explores the underlying mind that commits such heinous acts. Because whilst activists tie such homicides to the concept of ‘male power and control’, the data finds that only 6.5% of the men who killed their partner were violent in the proceeding month. However, 46.5% of such parter homicides came alongside a suicide attempt by the man. So is the basis of intimate partner homicide one of male pain? And how can we have such a discussion, when it so clearly undercuts the political agenda, that has dominated discourse for generations? Well, luckily, I spoke about exactly this with a world leading psychologist, who has consulted on scores of partner homicide trials, including as a prosecuting expert witness in the most famous partner homicide case in world legal history – that of O.J. Simpson. What do you think? New podcast with world leading family violence expert Dr Don Dutton https://tinyurl.com/544d5c9w

2026-03-25