Posts

The Myth of the Battered Husband Syndrome

By Jack C. Straton, Ph.D. Department of Physics Portland State University Portland, OR 97207-0751 straton@cs.pdx.edu Reprinted with permission from masculinities 2, 79-82 (1994). The most recurrent backlash against women’s safety is the myth that men are battered as often as women. Suzanne Steinmetz [1] created this myth with her 1977 study of 57 couples, in […]

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Male Victims Of Domestic Violence: A Substantive And Methodological Research Review

by Michael S. Kimmel (Published as “Gender Symmetry in Domestic Violence: A Substantive and Methodological Research Review) Synopsis written by Rus Ervin Funk, MSW Center for Women and Families, Louisville, KY in Violence Against Women, (2002) This substantial article examines the issues of men who are victimized by domestic violence in heterosexual relationships. Over the […]

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Battered/Formerly Battered Women’s Caucus

STATEMENT-July 14, 2004 In order for the domestic violence movement to facilitate effective and positive social change in our society, it is imperative that Battered and Formerly Battered Women have a clear presence and a loud voice to direct and guide this movement. We have a commitment to provide compassionate,respectful support to the women we […]

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Some Major Myths about Domestic Abuse

By Ben Atherton-Zeman, 2003 (www.voicesofmen.org) Myth 1: It’s the victim/survivor’s job to stop the abuse. (Usually stated in a question: “Why don’t they just leave?” or “Why do they stay/go back to their abuser?”) Reality Check 1: Often when victims leave, the abuse increases. More than half of domestic homicides occur when a victim has […]

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The Intersection of Rape, Custody and Reproductive Coercion

By Barry Goldstein Thirty-one states permit rapists to use family courts to gain access to their victim and obtain custody or visitation of a child conceived from rape. The situation is outrageous, but it doesn’t even describe the full failure of states to protect rape victims and their children. Even in states that provide some […]

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Shared Custody Issues in the Context of Domestic Violence

by Barry Goldstein In a Queens New York custody case, the court appointed a prominent psychologist to evaluate a young couple.  The psychologist was frequently used as an expert in the New York courts despite a fathers’ rights bias that included a quotation in a New York Times article supporting shared parenting.  Throughout his testimony […]

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Calling it Anger Adds to the Danger

by Phyllis B. Frank and Gail K. Golden Anger Management Policy Statement With decades of experience to draw upon, we have determined that most people who are thought to need anger management programs already know how to manage their anger, and do so, on a daily basis in a wide variety of settings. It is […]

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Position paper on court mandated mental health treatment for men who batter

Many courts throughout the country are using mental health treatment as a penalty for men’s acts of assault against their partners. It is our strong professional determination, based on many decades of work in the field, that an order for mental health treatment as a sanction for an assault is not the appropriate response. Mental […]

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The Importance of Using Accountable Language

by Phyllis B. Frank and Barry Goldstein This article was conceived because of the frequency with which leaders of our movement and presenters at conferences use unaccountable language in our presentations and proposals, even as they deeply care about ending men’s violence against women and have devoted their lives to helping women partnered with abusive […]

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“Domestic Violence” as part of the broader issue of “Domestic Abuse”: Position Statement

“Domestic Violence” as part of the broader issue of “Domestic Abuse” The horrific physical violence that so many men continue to inflict on their wives or woman partners is truly astonishing, shocking, and galvanizing: slaps, punches, choking, severe shaking, being thrown against walls or down stairs, arms twisted or broken, burns, stabbings, gunshots, and innumerable […]

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