NCJ Number
216301
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 48 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 753-780
Date Published
September 2006
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This paper argues that the emerging dominance in Canada of the belief that men are abused and assaulted as often as women in intimate relationships is a myth; reasons for the promotion of this myth are examined.
Abstract
The authors first trace the evolution of how husband battering came to be viewed as a fact-based social problem on the level with wife battering. They argue that resurgent men's movements, Internet communication, and the claims of social science "experts" have combined to create the profile of women as equal to men in their violence, aggressiveness, and destructiveness. The authors then identify the dominant social, economic, and political forces that have shaped and enabled the beliefs, laws, and policies that reflect this view of domestic violence as a social problem perpetrated in equal measure by both women and men. Women's successes in calling attention to and achieving social, economic, and legal responses to their gender-related victimizations and injustices, particularly in capitalist democracies, has fueled widespread resistance and what has been called anti-feminist backlash. Many institutions are currently questioning, if not reversing, feminist-inspired initiatives in education, in the workplace, in legislation, and in the courts. Media presentations of violent girls, female stalkers, homicidal mothers, and women as seducers of young boys have become increasingly popular. Denying the unequal victimization of women is not only politically and culturally attractive, it also saves money. If men and women are equally likely to perpetrate domestic violence, then governments are not obligated to proved specialized counselors for rape victims or costly gender-specific programs and institutions. The invention and popularizing of "husband abuse" inevitably impact how resources are allocated and how prevention and intervention strategies are developed. 10 notes and 73 references