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October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. TABS is sponsoring an exhibit of the "forgotten" victims of domestic violence. This display includes a dramatic portrayal of those who have died at the hands of their abusers, yet don't count in the publicized statistics. Every Victim Counts is a must-see for all interested in fair and unbiased coverage of domestic violence in our society.
See the Every Victim Counts Exhibit:
DATE: Next Friday Morning, October 29, 1999
TIME: 9 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.
PLACE: King County Regional Justice Center
First Floor Rotunda
401 4th Ave. N.
Kent, WA. 98032-4429
Contact: Lisa D. Scott
Phone: 425-641-4484
Directions to the Kent, King County Regional Justice Center:
- Travel on Highway 167 toward Kent, WA. (northbound or southbound)
- Take the Willis St. Exit, and turn eastbound onto Willis St.
- Proceed along Willis St. to 4th St.
- Turn left onto 4th St. heading northbound to James St.
- The Justice Center is located at 4th and James St. (Kent) with the parking garage accessible from James St.
Every day, thousands of people are slapped, punched, kicked, bitten, attacked with knives, guns, vehicles and even gasoline, by their spouses or intimate partners. Yet these victims are totally ignored in the domestic violence advocacy movement's statistics, fund-raising, and taxpayer subsidies. Why? Because these victims are male.
Our criminal laws are gender-neutral, applying equally to men and women. Yet when men are the victims of domestic violence crimes, the acts are rarely described as being domestic violence. True, many of these crimes are never reported because of social stigma and personal embarrassment. But these crimes cannot be hidden when a man is severely injured, disabled or killed.
Even though the criminal laws and procedures are gender-neutral, virtually all DV programs and education focus on female victims. Yet, statistics show that men and women are almost equally likely to initiate domestic violence against an intimate partner (Strauss and Gelles, 1975 and 1985; see also the annotated bibliography complied by Martin S. Fiebert, Ph.D., of the Department of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach). According to a U.S. Justice Department study, women were perpetrators in 41 percent of spousal murders (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report: Murder in Families, 1994).
While women are often more severely injured when domestic violence escalates, the current domestic violence advocacy movement appears to conceal the existence of female violence. Excluding female abusers and male victims ignores the fact women can and do commit a substantial number of violent crimes against men. This lack of awareness leaves men less prepared for the potential for violence against them.
To ignore criminal violence by women does a disservice to all victims, male and female, adults and children. The cases profiled in the Every Victim Counts exhibit provide an opportunity to educate the public that domestic violence is not confined to one gender. All individuals, regardless of gender, should be held accountable for their criminal acts.
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