Domestic Violence – Double Standard
How often are we told that violence is always wrong? But apparently that only applies to violence against women. It seems many people believe that there IS a good excuse to beat a man. When I was growing up…every boy I knew was drilled that you never lay a hand on a woman but I was never told not to hit a man. Why aren’t we ALL told not to hit ANYONE? The action is crime…regardless of the victim.
Unfortunately, men who need help are invisible to most people male and female. Even worse for most abused men, if they call the cops-they will most likely get arrested (even if they are clearly injured).
This is not zero-sum game…caring for abused men doesn’t mean we don’t care about abused women. We should care about abused PEOPLE.
And dealing with domestic violence as if it only goes one way makes the problem worse. Men who need help for being abused don’t get it. Women who need help for the violence don’t get it. Couples that are mutually violent only get partial help which is more likely to polarize them. And most important of all the children of those abused men don’t get help.