October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thus, there has been much discussion this past month in many venues about DV. Men and their supporters are drawing attention to the fact that many articles and blog posts depict men as the perpetrators and women as the victims. In reality, men also can be victims of domestic violence. Sometimes women are perpetrators, and not the victims, of domestic violence.
Some who claim that women are perpetrators as often—or nearly as often—as men point to the following bibliography in support of their thesis: "References Examining Assaults by Women on their Spouses or Male Partners: An Annotated Bibliography," compiled by Martin S. Fiebert, Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach. Last updated: July 2009
Fiebert's bibliography examines 256 scholarly investigations: 201 empirical studies and 55 reviews and/or analyses which, it is said, demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. He states that "The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 253,500." That is a misleading statement. Some studies had about 500 or 600 subjects, some had about 1,500 subjects, some a little more, some a little less. The sample size is critical to reliability of information gathered, statistics obtained, and conclusions drawn.
I have not read the studies. I have briefly reviewed the annotations in this bibliography and note that many of these studies date back to the 1980s. In many of the annotations it is clear that the cohorts participating in the studies were very small, thus affecting the validity of the statistics. It is impossible, without reviewing every study to determine the validity of the statistics and/or to determine whether there were appropriate controls and how the study was designed, all of which affects reliability. It is not possible to determine without examination of each study the authors' credentials. Were these senior theses by graduate students? Or on the other hand, were the researchers experienced in designing studies, analyzing statistical data and working in a peer-reviewed setting?
A view from the other side of the fence: I offer to you some statements from Megan Widman, Director of Social Action at HAVEN (Help Against Violent Encounters Now) Visit the Links page here for helpful resources. https://www.haven-oakland.org/links.html Note at the upper right hand corner of the web site that HAVEN has made it possible for victims of domestic abuse to exit the web site removing all traces in the computer history of a visit to Haven's website. I am impressed. [See my earlier Blog post about safe Internet use.]
Megan Widman states as follows:
"My response to this argument is usually to point out that, while studies have shown that levels of violence perpetrated by women towards men may be higher than we think, it is very, very rare that women’s violence towards men would create the same level of fear, intimidation, and control as men’s violence towards women. If the violence doesn’t create fear and intimidation, then it doesn’t create power and control! Many of the studies quoted in the bibliography just ask the question, “Have you ever hit your partner?” without going further.
"Try it – next time a man says he was 'abused' by a woman, ask him the follow up question: 'How did that make you feel?' The answer you will normally get is 'pissed off', 'angry', 'irritated', or something that attacks her mental state. Ask a woman that same question and you get different answers: 'terrified', 'scared', 'alone', etc. When you ask a man if he is scared of his female 'abusive' partner, the answer is almost always 'no'. You will also rarely find a man that blames himself for the violence she committed against him, whereas women often adopt the blaming attitude of their batterer and hold themselves accountable for the abuse that is inflicted upon them.
"If you believe domestic violence is a pattern of controlling and assaultive behavior with the goal of obtaining or maintaining power and control over one’s partner, then women’s violence against men rarely fits the bill. It doesn’t mean it’s OK for women to hit men, but the goal, and therefore the EFFECT of the violence is completely different.
"Here are some statistics that I also use to support this argument. The difference between the articles he listed and those that I list, are that the articles listed by him are much more small scale, private studies completed by intellectuals. The statistics below are from large scale studies completed by the Department of Justice and Center for Disease Control (as domestic violence is now considered a preventable public health issue)."
Women are six times more likely than men to experience violence committed by an intimate.
Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, August 1995.
Approximately 98% of batterers are male in the U.S.
Callie Marie Rennison (2001). Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-1999
Special Report. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ #187635. Bureau of Justice Statistics https://ojp.usdoj/bjs/
Women are victims in 85% - 95% of all reported domestic violence
U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 2003. Intimate Partner Violence, 1993–2001
NCJ 197838, p. 1.
Women living with female intimate partners experience less (11%) intimate partner violence than those living with male intimate partners (30%)
Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N., National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence ” (2000)
Men living with male intimate partners experience more (15%) intimate partner violence than those living with female intimate partners (7.7%)
Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N., National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence.” (2000)
Women experience more chronic and injurious physical assault at the hands of intimate partners than do men.
Women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner averaged 6.9 physical assaults by the same partner while men averaged 4.4 assaults. The survey also found that 41.5% of women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner were injured during the most recent assault, whereas only 19.9% of men were.
Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N., National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence .” (2000)
Reporting domestic violence. Women are significantly more likely not to report their intimate partner assault to the police because of fear of their attacker, whereas men are significantly more likely not to report it to the police because they believe it was a “minor” or “one-time” incident.
Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N., National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence .” (2000)
Thank you, Ms. Widman for sharing your insights and resources. See also The Domestic Violence Awareness Project.
About the children:
I would like to add to Ms. Widman's insights the following:
Child who witness domestic violence are at risk. Consider the following - all resources from the DOJ, the CDC or peer-review journals:
• 15.5 million U.S. children live in families in which partner violence occurred at least once in the past year, and seven million children live in families in which severe partner violence occurred. McDonald, Renee, Ernest N. Jouriles, Suhasini Ramisetty-Mikler, et al. 2006. Estimating the Number of American Children Living in Partner-Violent Families. Journal of Family Psychology 20(1): 137-142.
• The majority of U.S. nonfatal intimate partner victimizations of women (two-thirds) occur at home. Catalano, S. 2006 Intimate Partner Violence in the United States. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
• Children are residents of the households experiencing intimate partner violence in 43 percent of incidents involving female victims. Ibid.
• In a single day in 2007, 13,485 children were living in a domestic violence shelter or transitional housing facility. Another 5,526 sought services at a non-residential program. Domestic Violence Counts 07: A 24-hour census of domestic violence shelters and services across the United States. 2008. National Network to End Domestic Violence.
• The UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children conservatively estimates that 275 million children worldwide are exposed to violence in the home. Behind Closed Doors: The Impact of Domestic Violence against Children. 2006. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• Young Children's Exposure to Adult Domestic Violence: Toward a Developmental Risk and Resilience Framework for Research and Intervention. Visit the website of the National Center for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence here. There is a wide selection of research available on that website.
Domestic Violence Affects Children:
I found an interesting version of the Power & Control Wheel on a website as part of an article titled "How to Survive Domestic Violence" by "Texasware". You can click on the image to get a larger version. This might be something you will share with your clients, your intimate partner, your spouse or co-parent.
The risks for children can be read on this wheel, which was designed and copyrighted by Barbara Corry, M.A. Examples: "Children of violence do not learn boundaries." "Children of abuse learn how to abuse others." "Battering means emotional abandonment."
Texasware makes clear on this website the following critical issues:
• A Michigan study of low-income pre-schoolers finds that children who have been exposed to family violence suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares, and are at greater risk than their peers of having allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and flu. Graham-Bermann, SA, and Seng, J. 2005. Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Symptoms as Additional Predictors of Health Problems in High-Risk Children. Journal of Pediatrics. 146(3):309-10.
• Children of mothers who experience prenatal physical domestic violence are at an increased risk of exhibiting aggressive, anxious, depressed or hyperactive behavior. Whitaker, RC, Orzol, SM, Kahn, RS. 2006. Maternal Mental Health, Substance Use, and Domestic Violence in the Year After Delivery and
Subsequent Behavior Problems in Children at Age 3 Years. Archive of General Psychiatry. 63: 551-560.
• Females who are exposed to their parents’ domestic violence as adolescents are significantly more likely to become victims of dating violence than daughters of nonviolent parents. Noland, VJ, Liller, KD, McDermott, RJ, Coulter, ML, and Seraphine, A E. 2004. Is Adolescent Sibling Violence a Precursor to College Dating Violence? American Journal of Health and Behavior. 28: 813-823
• Children who experience childhood trauma, including witnessing incidents of domestic violence, are at a greater risk of having serious adult health problems including tobacco use, substance abuse, obesity, cancer, heart disease, depression and a higher risk for unintended pregnancy. Anda, Robert. Block, Robert. Felitti, Vincent. 2003. Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente's Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego.
• Physical abuse during childhood increases the risk of future victimization among women and the risk of future perpetration of abuse by men more than two-fold. Whitfield, CL, Anda RF, Dube SR, Felittle VJ. 2003. Violent Childhood Experiences and the Risk of Intimate Partner Violence in Adults: Assessment in a Large Health Maintenance Organization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 18(2): 166-185.
Conclusion. We live in a violent society. The violence on television alone is inappropriate for children. Put domestic violence into the mix, and it's a recipe for disaster for children who are exposed to it. When, as now, parents and partners are under considerable stress because of the economy, we can expect to see much more domestic violence. We need to find solutions. Finger-pointing isn't the answer. Education, intervention and advocacy are required.
There are many agencies available to help women in Asian and Asian-American families to escape and/or to prevent family violence. See, for example:
Domestic violence resources ·
New Visions: Alliance to End Violence in Asian/Asian American Communities Tel. 734-615-2106 Email newvisions@umich.edu
Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence
Tel. 415-954-9988, ext. 315 Email: apidvinstitute@apiahf.org
Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project
Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project
Email: Jacobsen@umich.edu
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Intimate Partner Violence Fact Sheet
National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
"Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women"
A collection of news articles concerning domestic violence and sexual violence is found here on the website of the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence
If you need crisis help:
Michigan Asian Indian Family Services
24-hour line: 888-664-8624
Help Against Violent Encounters Now (HAVEN)
24-hour line: 248-334-1274
Domestic Violence Project/SAFE House
24-hour line: 734-995-5444
Detroit Police Department Rape Counseling Center and Domestic Violence
24-hour lines: 313-833-1660 or 313-833-9813
To contact Jeanne Hannah with your questions or to view her Family Law website, click here.
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