When does an issue become ‘gendered’? Or, perhaps more aptly, at what point does an issue become sufficiently ‘gendered’, that nobody other than that gender matters. Is it 4:1, 10:1? Perhaps 99:1? For those who support such a view of domestic abuse, the qualifying line is a 2:1 split. That’s right, according to the ONS, 66% of abuse victims are women, and 33% are men. And to many, that makes the issue ‘gendered’. It means support is gendered too. It means the language we use is gendered. It means shelter and intervention models are gendered. And campaigns, policy documents, funding and research, will follow suit along the same ideological tramlines; helping women and girls, and leaving men and boys out in the cold. We don’t do this the other way around, of course. Despite being only 1:4 of the homeless, we still help homeless women. Despite being 1:5 of homicide victims, we still, as we should, discuss the tragic loss of women. Despite making up 1:100 of black Americans killed by police, black women remain a protagonist of BLM. And I’m glad. Similarly, I’m glad to see such visibility and days of awareness given to intersex people, those with vitiligo, and the trans community, despite each community making up a small portion of society. I am, however, confused as to why abused men, who make up a far larger slice of people, are ignored entirely, and presented as some kind of rounding error to the true victims… women. I have never understood how feminism beats its chest for every kind of minority, no matter how few, yet so often scoffs at the millions of male abuse victims. The fact is, gendering issues is no kind of compassionate or progressive advocacy, and there is nothing sophisticated or modern about it. There is no kindness in swinging the spotlight of compassion away from all those who need it – and even if it was just one man, I’d argue he deserves a voice too. So what do you think? Is domestic abuse a gendered issue? Is anything? And should we be treating the issue, not the gender? #mensmentalhealth #domesticviolence #mensmentalhealthawareness ~ Sources [1]  [2] 

2024-04-08