Media Goes out on a Limb, Calls a Male Victim of Domestic Violence a 'Victim of Domestic Violence'
September 17th, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & FamiliesI've often noted that the media is very hesitant to use the term "domestic violence" when the victim is a man. The story "Victim of Domestic Violence Dies at Hospital" from Eyewitness News in Memphis is a commendable exception. Read the story here. To commend the station for its story, write to newsdesk@myeyewitnessnews.com.
To learn more about the problems with the way our media and legal system treat domestic violence, click here.
BTW, for those who insist that DV against men isn't serious, in this case the man died. The killer will probably claim she's a victim of abuse and get off with a slap on the wrist, as many women who kill their husbands or boyfriends do. We'll see.
[Note: If you or someone you love is being abused, the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women provides crisis intervention and support services to victims of domestic violence and their families.]
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September 17th, 2007 at 11:48 am
no way, you know the all the women group will claim this story is a fake. since only females can be victim of DV
September 17th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Was he holding a dog, that got hit by accident?
Mike
September 17th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Altho notice she is not charged with the add on charge of Domestic Violence. Which means that if/when she is convicted, there will remain the same low number of women convicted of DV.
September 17th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
She'll probably claim that she was compelled by the victim to dress in racy lingerie, and then serve 3 months
September 17th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
The victimhood excuse to justify any actions is not reserved only for women who kill men.
Yesterday, I overheard a conversation between two women about a third woman, as I past them on the Jones Beach State Park Boardwalk.
"She's a real bitch. But you know what, she's a woman living in a man's world.... She's a survivor.... Really she's a victim."
September 17th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
DeadBeat Dad from NY, you forgot about him compelling her to wear 4" platform shoes -- that'll trim her sentence to a few weeks.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Glenn,
This is progress, but all who don't read past the headline will mentally register that headline as a man having killed a women, so deep is history of one-sided reporting on this subject.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I don't know about you guys, but I sent a letter to the station to thank them for calling this story what it really was: Domestic violence. I am damn tired of seeing the media skate around the phrase "domestic violence" when it involves a woman committing violent acts against her male partner. They will call it anything else less sinister sounding, rather than call it domestic violence when it involves intimate partner violence perpetrated by a woman against a man. That is not right or fair. And it is also just bad journalism, plain and simple. So please, write them a letter and let them know that you appreciate them for calling this story what it really was; domestic violence.
September 17th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Done and done. If they reply I might send them the Fiebert bibliography, it may enlighten a few people up there.
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
September 17th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Although I can relate to other posts here, I'm debating how much credit to give. The term domestic violence is now finally used but it took a murder, not a slap in the face to make it happen. It seems to be slightly euphemistic as people 'generally' associate less severe actions with DV then stabbing. O.J. was guilty of?
September 18th, 2007 at 10:21 am
She was charged with criminal attempt second degree murder???
What would it take to get it to first degree? I'd really like to know.
September 18th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
# KellyMac Says:
What would it take to get it to first degree? I'd really like to know.
Testicles.
September 18th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
The text of my letter to the editor:
"How dare you acknowledge that a man can be the victim of lethal violence inflicted by his better half -- a member of the gentler female sex? The cognitive dissonance this causes will surely impede my ability to continue to view the problem of domestic violence as a one-sided coin, as our thoroughly feminized society demands."
September 20th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I seen on the news yesterday morning where a woman's drunk boyfriend broke into her house by climbing down the chimney. He had to be broken out, literally, by the fire department. The scragly hag had her day, right there on camera: as he submissively and in a very intoxicated state just stood in front of her begging to get his stuff, she hit him over the head with a trash can - twice - and yelled, "I don't give a &*&%$# what you want - don't you ever come back!"
She did get charged, but not for battery, not for assault, not even for domestic violence. She was charged only with misdemeanor citations for disorderly conduct - she was standing in the way of the firefighters who were trying to rescue him, telling them to leave him in there to die.