Science Reveals That Lesbian & Heterosexual Women Are More Violent Domestically Than Men.

1.) Women are four times more likely to be victims of domestic violence in a lesbian household than in a married household.(Claire Renzetti, Violent Betrayal)

2.) Marrried women in traditional families experience the lowest rate of violence compared with women in other types of relationships ("Violence Between Intimates," Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings, November 1994, p.2)

3.)Among lesbians, "rates of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse were all significantly higher in their prior lesbian relationships than in their prior heterosexual relationships: 56.8% had been sexually victimized by a female, 45% had experienced physical aggression, and 64.5% experienced physical/emotional aggression." (1991 survey of 350 lesbians, 75% of whom had been in a previous relationship with a man) (Donald G. Dutton "Patriarchy and Wife Assault: The Ecological Fallacy Violence and Victims. Vol 9, Number 2., 1994. Page(s) 167-178.)

4.) A survey of 1,099 lesbians found that more than half reported that they had been abused by a female lover/partner. This includes verbal, emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. (Gwat Yong Lie and Sabrina Gentlewarrior, "Intimate Violence in Lebian Relationships: Dicussion of Survey Findings and Practice Implications, "Journal of Social Service Research 15 (1991): 41-59)

a.)44% of gay men reported having experienced violence in their relationships, 13% reported sexual violence and 83% reported emotional abuse.

b.)55% of lesbians reported physical violence in their relationships, 14% reported sexual abuse, and 84% reported emoytional abuse. (Study of 499 ethnically diverse homosexual, bisexual and transgendered teenagers and adults) (Susan C. Turrell "A Descriptive Analysis of same-Sex Relationship Violence for a Diverse Sample" Journal of Family Violence. Vol. 13, 2000. Page(s) 281-293)

1.)There is evidence from a variety of sources that women are more violent in a domestic setting while men wage war globally. The Revs. Sewell point out in their recent report that:

"We think it is important to note that there have been the same kind of studies done in many countries. there is cross-cultural verification that women are more violent than men in family settings. When behavior has cross-cultural verification it means that it is part of human nature rather than a result of cultural conditioning. Females are most often the perpetrators in spousal violence in most cultures that have been studied to date."

2.) Susan Steinmetz, Ph.D. a leading researcher in the filed of family violence, has done a cross-cultural comparison of marital abuse. Using a modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), she examined marital violence in small samples from six socities: Finland, United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Belize, and Israel. Her results suggest that "...in each society the percentage of husbands who used violence was similiar to the percentage of violent wives." The major exception was Puerto Rico where men were more violent. She also found that: "Wives who used violence...tended to use greater amounts."(Steinmetz, S.K. A Cross Cultural Comparison of Marital Abuse, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 8, 404-414, 1981)

3.) A 1988 survey of couples in Canada by Brinkerhoff and Lupri found the same pattern. They examined interspousal violence in a representative sample of 562 couples in Calgary, Canada. they used the CTS and found twice as much severe violence where females assaulted males, 11%, as male assaulting female, 5%.(Brinkerhoff and Lupri, Interspusal Violence. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 13, p. 407-434, 1988)

All of the above referenced studies can be found at http://www.dvmen.org/dv-38.htm

4.)In Bland and Orn's study, 73.4% of a sample of 616 women said they were the first to use physical violence. (Bland, R. and Orn, H. Family Violence and Psychiatric Disorder, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 31, p. 129-137, March, 1986)

The scientifc data for the three studies, expressed as a rate per 1,000 couples:

1. Kicked/bit/hit with fist 2. Hit, tried to hit with object 3. Threatened with gun or knife 4. Beat up 5. Used gun or knife

1975 study: (Behind Closed Doors: Violence In the American Family, Anchor Press, Garden City, NY)

1985 study: (Strauss and Gelles, Journal of Marriage and the Family, August 1986)

1992 study: (Murray A. Straus and Glenda Kaufman Kantor. 13th World Congress of Sociology, July 19, 1994)

Table was prepared using the data from ("Change in Spouse Assault Rates From 1975 to 1992: A Comparison of Three National Surveys In The United States" By Murray A. Straus and Glenda K. Kantor.)

If one will take the time to peruse these studies, as well as the numerous studies at http://www.dvmen.org/dv-39.htm one will find:

1.) No evidence that a patriarchal society has any direct influence on family violence.

2.)There is no direct relationship between structural patriarchy and wife assault.

3.)Battering in lesbian couples is much more frequent than heterosexual battering and lesbian relationships are significantly more violent than gay relationships.

These and other studies show that, domestically, lesbian women are the most violent, heterosexual women 2nd most violent, homosexual men 3rd most violent, and heterosexual men are the least violent.

Your stats are the ones that get reported to the cops. That's where the BJS gets its numbers. No one disputes that women call the cops more often. That's not the issue.

Men are well aware that when the cops arrive, if they are covered in blood and the wife still has the knife in her hand, he'll still be the one arrested, and it will go into the stats as another male-on-female assault.

That has been changing recently, but had been the norm for at least a decade. And largely thanks to the BS you tried to peddle here.

76 percent of the women who were raped and/or physically assaulted since age 18 were assaulted by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, or date, compared with 18 percent of the men.

What are you trying to pull here? That is a cleverly worded dodge designed to fool the reader into believing he just read that 76% of the people assaulted domestically are female; 18% of men are. But that isn't what it says. What it says is that men are several times more likely than women to be assaulted outside the home. As a consequence. the fraction of assaults on males that occur domestically is quite low... 18% of total assaults, 82% of which occur somewhere else. Men are assaulted far more often than women are. Look it up.

Studies where they call people up, ask for the 'woman of the house', and ask who hits who more, consistently -- and across cultures -- say that women themselves admit they hit more often. It's just that most men would never call the cops on their own wife. So the Justice Department stats always show more assaults on wives than on husbands. Even the Justice Department itself admits that.

Don't try to fool people in here. I don't like that.

Exaggerating domestic violence

Kathleen Parker
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
September 3, 1997

To infer from media reports and some feminist activists, American men pause from their favorite pastime of beating women just long enough to change the channel.

For years now, we've been fed a daily diet of bruised faces on billboards, news releases with ever-escalating domestic-violence statistics and service announcements like this 1995 radio spot: "Each year millions of women are attacked by former husbands and boyfriends."

Some of the popular statistics routinely consumed and regurgitated by the media include:

Of all women who visit emergency rooms, 20 percent to 35 percent come for domestic violence-related injuries;
Battering is the leading cause of injury to American women;
Domestic abuse causes more injuries to women than rape, muggings and automobile accidents combined.

All false.

A new Justice Department study indicates that while violence-related injuries to both men and women are higher than previously thought, reports of domestic violence against women have been vastly exaggerated. Yes, some men are beating up women and children, and, yes, some women are beating up men and children. But, no, these abnormal incidents do not constitute a national pathology.

Domestic violence -- even one incident of which cannot be tolerated -- is nonetheless aberrational behavior that belies the fringe-feminist contention that American society is a violent, patriarchal construct bent on violating and harming women.

The Justice Department research, which studied violence-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments, found that one-third of all emergency room visits by women are owing to injuries. Of those injuries, 3 percent are a result of violence. Of all violence-related injuries, one-third are caused by domestic violence. In other words, 0.3 percent of women's injury-related emergency room visits are owing to domestic violence.

That number may not be gratifying to a woman whose husband just broke her nose, but it does suggest domestic violence is not precisely epidemic.

Meanwhile, another study released last March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- "National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 1992 Emergency Department Summary" -- showed the leading cause of injury to women (as well as men) is not domestic violence, but accidental falls, followed by motor vehicle accidents.

Figures show that automobile accidents account for 13.6 percent of injuries to women treated in emergency rooms, which, math whizzes, is a good deal more than 0.3 percent for domestic violence.

None of these findings should be interpreted as good news. The fact that anyone -- man, woman or child -- ever has to seek treatment for injuries inflicted by a so-called loved one is disturbing beyond redemption. Based on its findings, the Justice Department projects that, annually, 204,129 women and 38,790 men seek emergency-room treatment from domestic-violence injuries. That's too many people acting stupid and doing damage.

But, it's unfair and counterproductive to exaggerate statistics to advance an ideological goal, as some women's groups -- and our own government -- have done. Everyone from President Clinton on down has repeated the erroneous figure that 37 percent of injuries to women are inflicted by spouses, former spouses or boyfriends. The CDC and the Department of Justice reports clearly refute this claim.

In fact, the Justice study shows that men are victims of domestic violence in about 16 percent of reported abuse cases, contrary to the popular claim that women constitute 95 percent of abuse claims. The study does confirm, however, that women are more likely than men to be victims of abuse by an intimate partner.

Given the horror of even one domestic-violence incident, what difference does a little exaggeration make? Doesn't the end of eliminating violence justify the means of massaging the data? Who's hurt? We all are.

By exaggerating reports, we've created a climate in which men are assumed to be vicious and are easily damned in child-custody discussions. Women are assumed to be victims who need the government to bail them out of bad relationships. And family dynamics continue to deteriorate as divisive rhetoric alienates the sexes.

There's no excuse for domestic violence, as the Family Violence Prevention Fund's advertising blurb goes. We unmistakably have a violence problem in this country, for which we might seek cultural solutions. But women are not being battered by men at an alarming rate.

We do not live in a society characterized by male brutality against women. And demonizing men at the expense of truth ultimately does more harm than good.

PARKER can be reached via e-mail at kparker1@aol.com

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.