And most boys are still taught that you never, ever, hit a girl. That training carries over into marriage for most young men. However provoked they may be, they don't physically assault their spouse. Women, of course, recognize this early on and most respect their husband's curtailing their greater physical strength. Some, however, view their sex as a get out of jail free card and resort to physical assault, knowing that their spouse has a lifetime of habit and training holding him back from retaliation.
When things go bad in a lesbian marriage neither side can count on gentlemanly instincts or training to limit the physical assault to just one side. And, as a result, you find the outcome described in the article.
Women experience significantly more partner violence than men do. According to survey estimates, approximately 1.5 million women and 834,700 men are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States. Because women are also more likely to be injured by intimate partners, research aimed at understanding and preventing partner violence against women should be stressed.
--Violence against women is primarily partner violence: 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.
However, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics published a report in May, 2000 which sheds some light on part of domestic violence. Their report is based on their own surveys (National Crime Victimization Survey), and on data from the FBI (homicide data). In their report they define domestic violence as violent crimes by current or former spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends. Violent crimes include lethal (homicide) and nonlethal (rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) offenses. From their data, we can say that in 1998, women experienced at least 900,000 violent offences at the hands of an intimate, and men were victims of at least 160,000 violent crimes by an intimate partner. Their report did not mention emotional abuse, harassment or stalking.
So, more than 1 million violent crimes were committed against persons by their current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends. To view the report, go to Intimate Partner Violence 16
Gender trends: Women make up 3/4 of the victims of homicide by an intimate partner. Actually, 33% of all women murdered (of course, only cases which are solved are included) are murdered by an intimate partner. Women make up about 85% of the victims of non-lethal domestic violence. In all, women are victims of intimate partner violence at a rate about 5 times that of males. 16
Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. –Commonwealth Fund survey, 1998 Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend each year to 4 million women who are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners each year. – Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, U.S. Department of Justice, March, 1998
http://www.ndvh.org/dvInfo.html
Females are victims of family violence at a rate at least 3 times that of males.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, Highlights from 20 years of Surveying Crime Victims (p25.) http://www.actabuse.com/dvstats.html
right before my divorce my ex tried to hit me and i caught her fist, she called the police and i was dragged in for grabbing her. the charges were dropped, however the rumours of me beating my wife flew out of proportion. guess i should have taken the hit
I agree with your statements. However, I view that a man hitting a woman is no different from a woman hitting a man. The act is the same. Violence is violence, period.