NCFM calls for accuracy in media during Domestic Violence Awareness Month this October

For Immediate Release

LOS ANGELES/EWORLDWIRE/Sep. 24, 2007 --- October is domestic violence awareness month. In May 2007, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published its latest study which found almost one-fourth of relationships had violence, about half of which was reciprocal, and the researchers were "surprised" to find that "in nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70 percent of the cases," and men incurred significant injuries ('http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a') ('http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/5/941').

The CDC's Web site also cites data showing: "In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner," and 24 percent of intimate partner homicide victims were male ('http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm')

Experts have expressed concern that male victims have been unfairly ignored due to gender-driven politics and that this contributes to the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence. When male victims are ignored or just "take it," their children suffer long-term damage by the exposure and are more likely to commit the violence as adults.

The mass media often contributes to this neglect by framing domestic violence as "battered women" or as primarily a male crime and by citing inaccurate crime data. The media says "men and women" when covering soldiers or fire-fighters; it should do the same for male domestic violence victims. The National Coalition of Free Men calls on the media for fair reporting this October. As Dear Abby said, "Domestic violence is a human problem, not a gender problem."

In addition to the CDC data, a recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found women commit half of all partner violence and are just as controlling as men ('http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/em_060519male.cfm?type=n') ('http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf').

A University of Florida study recently found women are more likely than men to "stalk, attack and abuse" their partners ('http://news.ufl.edu/2006/07/13/women-attackers/').

The University of Washington recently found similar results ('http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625111433.htm').

In fact, although men are less likely to report the violence - which distorts crime data, virtually all randomized sociological surveys show women initiate domestic violence as often as men and use weapons more than men, that men suffer one-third of injuries, and that self-defense explains only a small portion of domestic violence by either sex. Professor Martin Fiebert of California State University summarizes this data in an online bibliography at ('http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm').

A recent study in the Journal of Family Violence found many male callers to a national hotline experienced severe violence from female partners who used violence to control them ('http://www.springerlink.com/content/a7q0032j88817218/fulltext.pdf').

A University of Pennsylvania emergency room report found 13 percent of men were assaulted by a female partner in the previous 12 months, 37 percent with a weapon, and 14 percent required medical attention ('http://www.aemj.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/8/786').

Contact: Marc E. Angelucci, Esq.
(626) 319-3081

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CONTACT:
Marc Angelucci
National Coalition of Free Men
P.O.Box 41291
Los Angeles, CA 90041
PHONE. 626-319-3081
FAX. 626-319-3081
EMAIL: marcangelucci@hotmail.com

KEYWORDS: National Coalition of Free Men, Mens rights, fathers' rights, gender equality, masculism, National Coalition of Free Men, mens rights, domestic violence, battered women, battered men

SOURCE: National Coalition of Free Men