Is There Anti-Male Bias in Domestic Violence Services?

"Yes!" That was the resounding response to two May, 2003, articles in the Cecil Whig, a Cecil County, Maryland newspaper, that were widely reposted on the Internet.

The paper was covering a controversy that erupted when the County's Domestic Violence/Rape Crisis Center (DVRCC) staff walked out of a May 12th Cecil County Family Violence Coordinating Council in protest of its showing a "skewered, sensationalist" 20/20 news magazine segment on women who assault male partners. DVRCC staff reportedly also said that given the statistics of how few men come to them for services, they were concerned the Council had spent too much time in the past year talking about male victims, to the detriment of other underserved victims such as elderly victims, those with disabilities, and those with limited proficiency in English.

The controversy got additional mileage the next week, when the Second Judicial Court discussed whether the walkout precluded the judges, at least one of whom was present at the Council meeting, from associating with DVRCC, since state law precludes judges from associating with people and agencies suspected of gender bias. The judges apparently did not reach a conclusion.

Partly as a result of the articles being reposted on several men's rights websites, the paper received (and published) at least 35 comments on the controversy. Nearly every posting argued that the DVRCC's action was in keeping with domestic violence agencies' attitudes nationwide, which, the critics charge, routinely ignore statistics showing that there are two male domestic violence victims for every three female victims.

Predictably, some of the comments were vitriolic. Many, however, told personal stories of male victims of domestic violence being unable to find assistance, and argued that many domestic violence surveys, studies, and even programs are structured and presented in ways that highlight violence against women while playing down violence against men.

Although DVRCC staff had argued that only 14 men compared to 300 women requested services from them last year, one poster noted that the DVRCC website itself says, "We do not accept males over the age of 14," which, in his opinion, "boldly state(s), do not come here for help, if you are male and over the age of 14." Several pointed out that for many years, domestic violence against women was not taken seriously, just as the DVRCC was now dismissing the scope of violence against men.

At least five men talked about their abuse at the hands of women (one of which said it was mutual); two of these men reported being disbelieved, scorned, male-bashed, and even prosecuted as a result of reporting the abuse. Other men claimed the entire social services system is biased against men and fathers; one said his petition to get his non-custodial ex-wife to pay ordered child support came back three times "changed by the receiving county to show me as the parent in arrears."

The director of a national hotline for battered men said his clients report "many, many men throughout the country are getting hung up on by domestic violence advocates who work at these established projects. If they are not hung up on they are called abusers and given the number to the nearest batterers intervention program." His program found that of over 2000 domestic violence programs in the US, Puerto Rico, and the Virginia Islands, only seven will shelter men (see article elsewhere in this AAR, "Two New, Innovative Services Announced"). Another poster commented on the names of domestic violence services, asking rhetorically if a woman would seek help at the House of Bubba or the Men's Law Center, referring to two Maryland agencies (the House of Ruth and the Women's Law Center) to which DVRCC refers domestic violence survivors.

Several of the postings made reference to resources and publications that may be useful to those working with male elder and vulnerable adult abuse victims. These include:

• National battered men's helpline (1-877-643-1120 Access Code 0757 or email help@batteredmenshelpline.org): www.batteredmenshelpline.org
• Domestic violence against men project of Charity ManKind: www.mankind.org.uk
• National abused men and boys resource list: http://themenscenter.com/National/national01.htm
• "Data Resources Program of the National Institute of Justice" report: www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/PDF/nij-win2001.pdf
• "References Examining Assaults By Women on Their Spouses or Male Partners: An Annotated Bibliography" (covering 111 empirical studies and 27 reviews and/or analyses of domestic violence): www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm