Are Western Societies Guilty of Trivialising Female-on-Male Violence?
I was a little surprised to read the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Annual Representatives Conference 2010 motion 18:
“Conference is outraged that in 2010 violence against women is still prevalent, and in some places in the world openly tolerated. As a healthcare profession, we are in a great position to add our voice to the many who call for an end to violence against women. This Conference calls on the CSP to work with Amnesty International on its campaign to Stop Violence Against Women. Virtually every culture in the world contains forms of violence against women that are nearly invisible because they are seen as ‘normal’. Even in countries where laws criminalise violence against women, tolerance of violence may be found at all levels of society. Violence against women is the greatest human rights scandal of our times. The experience or threat of violence affects the lives of women everywhere, cutting across boundaries of wealth, race and culture. In the home and in the community, in time of war and peace, women are beaten raped, mutilated and killed with impunity. It is time we make a stand against this outrage”[1]
It seemed to me to be a sexist stance ignoring statistical evidence that men are at greater risk of violent crime than women in the UK. In England and Wales during 2008/2009 for example, men "were about twice as likely as women (4.4% compared with 2.1%) to have experienced one or more violent crimes in the year prior to interview"[2: page 43].
It may be that their opinion has been influenced by domestic violence which has been reported to affect 6% of women in England and Wales but only 4% of men[2]. I wonder though, how much this statistic has been skewed by the trivialisation of female violence against men. At school, when I was hit by girls, the thoughts of either telling the teachers or hitting them back never entered my head. In adult life it seems to be exclusively a woman’s ‘right’ to end arguments by pouring drinks over a male partner’s head or slapping him. I have seen a group of friends stand around a male student laughing after his female housemate kneed him in the groin in the street in broad daylight. There is even evidence that police from the USA trivialise violence against men[3]. Our Students’ Union’s Women’s Officer’s response to this was: 
“So what does this prove? Isolated incidents of female on male violence do not negate the overwhelming evidence, much of it collected by government and other professional sources, that violence is disproportionately committed by men. Why are you so fixated on "proving" that sexism isn't an issue?”[4]
Research from the USA has shown that in violent heterosexual relationships where both partners were not hitting each other, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases[5]. This data may not be valid for extrapolation to the UK population, but it may be because our cultures are similar. What am I witnessing then? Is the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy at risk of being hijacked by a baseless feminist agenda that will reinforce the unequal perception of ‘rights’ to use violence; an occupational injustice already well ingrained into our society? Or am I missing something (relevant to UK physiotherapy practise)? I am all for endorsing a campaign against domestic violence, but I do not see why it should be 100% biased towards the protection of only one sex. I do not want the money I pay for my Chartered Society of Physiotherapy membership to be invested in sexist campaigns, just as I do not believe the National Union of Students or a University's Student's Union should fund a sexist Women's Officer.
V
References
1. National Group of Regional Stewards (22 December 2009 15:05) Social Policy - Violence against women. Available from: http://www.interactivecsp.org.uk/viewTopic.cfm?item_id=B6EEECA1A85FE82E0... Accessed: 8:43 14/2/2010
2. Walker A., Flatley J., Kershaw C., Moon D. (2009) Crime in England and Wales 2008/09. Volume 1: Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime.
3. ABC News (undated) Reaction To Women Abusing Men In Public. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlFAd4YdQks Accessed: 9:36 14/2/2010
4. Schulz B. (2009) Reaction To Women Abusing Men In Public. Available from: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=106898331212 Accessed: 9:42 14/2/2010
5. Whitaker D.J., Haileyesus T., Swahn M., Saltzman L.S. (2007) Differences in frequency of violence and reported injury between relationships with reciprocal and nonreciprocal intimate partner violence. American Journal of Public Health 97(5): 941-947
Comments
We live in a world that can't "do" complicated, of course violence against women is abhorrent but then again all violence is wrong, it's not an effective way to progress anything much but presents apparently simple solutions to one party or the other in the face of power imbalance and inequalities. You'll never get your perspective accepted by the groups that hold the view espoused above because you are trying to show that the issue isn't simple and that different perspective pose harder questions than the gross simplification of the issues. But simplification creates slogans and people can be far more easily be persuaded to gather under a simple single issue approach that saying "we think this is a problem but it's quite complicated and women aren't the only part of human societies that suffer inequality and violent treatment". I don't understand why the view that many women are vulnerable to violence mutually excludes acknowledgement that men also suffer higher levels of violence but in different contexts.