NCJ Number
185759
Date Published
2000
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The author believes that because gay men do not get pregnant and are able to financially support themselves it should not be as difficult for them to leave an abusive relationship as it is for heterosexual women, that gay men who stay in violent relationships make a conscious choice to accept the abuse they receive, and that society has no obligation to help victims of gay domestic violence.
Abstract
Spousal abuse in two-male marriages may be less of a burden for the police than in conventional male-female marriages, primarily because a physically fit man is better able to defend himself against an abusive male spouse than the average female victim and is less likely to call the police. Moreover, gay abused men may be better off financially than many abused female wives who have not worked in many years. Since an abused gay man has no children to support and is likely to have adequate financial means to support himself, the author concludes that it is the abused gay man's personal choice to live in a violent relationship and that neither society nor the police is obliged to intervene.