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Seriousness of Female Violence Against Men Has Been Exaggerated (From Domestic Violence: Opposing Viewpoints, P 34-40, 2000, Tamara L. Roleff, ed. -- See NCJ-185753)

NCJ Number
185757
Author(s)
Christine Wicker
Date Published
2000
Length
7 pages
Annotation
While no one refutes some women batter and abuse men, the author believes the extent and seriousness of the abuse is not as severe as some men's advocates claim.
Abstract
Men are physically stronger than women and are therefore able to inflict more damaging injuries than women can. Some women, however, deliberately provoke men into assaulting them, while others attack men in self-defense or in retaliation for earlier abuse. Even though studies indicate both men and women hit, bite, scratch, shove, or throw things at their intimate partners, police officers and prosecutors still agree women suffer the most injuries from domestic violence. At the same time, men's advocates say that widespread violence against men is not adequately noticed by police officers and emergency room doctors who are trained only to look for domestic abuse against women and that some women assault men as a way of luring them into violence. Overall, men are much more likely to dominate women through violence than women are to dominate men, and most domestic violence is committed by men against women. According to the Department of Justice, women are victims of domestic violence 11 times more often than men.

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