Domestic violence is equal opportunity


Last Monday, Statistics Canada released a major study on violence against women. It is the third such mega-study the nation's head-counters have done since 1993.

The findings are quite useful. They would be even more useful if the report weren't infused with so much gender bias against male victims of domestic violence.

Like most of officialdom -- politicians, academics, the courts, police, Crown prosecutors, special interest groups, health care professionals --StatsCan does its utmost to highlight violence by men against women, while trivializing violence by women against men.

Part of the greater emphasis on violence against women is warranted. As the report points out, "Women are more frequently subjected to severe forms of violence from men than men are from women." For instance, "In 2004, twice as many women than men were beaten by their partners."

But that still means a lot of men were beaten by their partners.

StatsCan, and the rest of the anti-violence establishment, acts as if no men were beaten, though. The StatsCan report contains sections on the "prevalence and severity of violence against women," the "impact of violence against women," "risk factors associated with violence against women," "violence against Aboriginal women" and "violence against women in the territories," yet pays almost no special attention to violence against men.

In 2004 -- the base year of the study -- 654,000 women and 546,000 men reported being the victims of spousal violence at least once in the previous five years. That's a nearly equal proportion of both sexes -- 7% of Canadian women and 6% of Canadian men.

Even if more than twice as many female victims of domestic violence (19%) are beaten compared to male victims (8%), that still means nearly 44,000 Canadian men received beatings at the hands (or blunt objects) of their female partners.

Certainly, the corresponding number among women -- 124,000 -- is substantially higher. But to read StatsCan's report or listen to representatives of the shelter lobby or provincial ministers responsible for reducing violence, you would be forgiven for forming the impression that only women are ever victims of domestic abuse.

In fact, while female victims are more likely to be "pushed, grabbed [or] shoved" -- 81% versus 48% of male victims -- or sexually assaulted by their partners -- 16% to almost zero -- both sexes are equally likely (23% each) to hit their partners with an object of some sort or to threaten the other with a gun or knife (11% versus 9%). Meanwhile, female assaulters are more likely to kick, bite or hit (40% to 27%), slap (57% to 36%) or throw something (49% to 44%).

Admittedly, violence against women is the more common problem.

Statistics Canada reveals that "twice as many female victims of spousal assault reported chronic, ongoing assaults" of 10 or more attacks.

Still, that finding does not mean that no males were chronically abused.

While 137,000 female victims claimed 10 or more violent incidents in the previous five years, 60,000 men experienced the same treatment.

Early on in its study, Statistics Canada tries to explain away its anti-male bias. Indeed, on the first page after the table of contents, the authors write, "Women's traditional role in society as caregivers often limits their ability to access programs intended for all Canadians." They cite as an example employment training programs that might be available only to full-time workers. Since more women than men work part-time, such a program would favour men over women. Therefore, they infer, work on domestic violence must focus on women, lest female victims somehow be forgotten.

But since there are nearly 600 shelters for female victims of domestic abuse, and only a handful of male shelters, it is hard to share StatsCan's worry that women who suffer abuse are more likely than men to drop through the cracks.

The whole focus of treatment programs for abusers, and special court policies on prosecuting abusers, is aimed at men who beat their female partners. There is very little focus on the obverse, which may explain why men who abuse are more than twice as likely as female abusers to be charged with the highest offence for their crimes, and more than twice as likely to serve time.

Domestic abuse is a human problem, not a male or female one. Other studies have shown that women are almost as likely to strike the first blow in a relationship as men. Men may be marginally more violent than their female partners, and their violence may lead to about twice as much injury. Still, as a culture, we pretend that damaging, female-initiated violence does not exist.

Perhaps the most useful part of StatsCan's large survey is its examination of risk factors for domestic violence. If you are living common-law, you are as much as five times as likely to suffer abuse as someone who is married. Indeed, violence by live-in boyfriends and girlfriends is the only category of abuse that has grown in the past five years.

If you are young or aboriginal or have an alcoholic or drug-addicted partner, you are more vulnerable. Also if you are gay or lesbian.

"Spousal violence was twice as common among homosexual couples compared with heterosexual couples." Fifteen percent of gay and lesbian partnerships experienced violence.

Significant reductions in spousal abuse have been achieved in the past 15 years. But it is less likely further significant improvements will occur so long as the issue is so clouded by gender bias and politics.


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