Essay, Research Paper: Battered Men Need More Political Voice

Battered men need more political voice
The mistreated people in our society are often overlooked due
to the fact that they lack a strong political voice to inform the public
about the atrocities against them. Because this happens, these
people need a greater political voice. I feel that the battered men of
the world need more of a political voice. Men are often looked at as
batters, but they are sometimes battered by women. Because of this,
battered men need a greater political voice in society today.
Research shows that men and women are considered equal when
talking about domestic assault issues. A study done be Mr. Straus
showed that by using thirty studies of domestic violence in everyday
American society, men and women are almost identical in terms of
attacks such as slapping, shoving, and kicking. “Using information on
married couples obtained from 2.994 women in the 1985 National
Family Violence Survey, Mr. Straus, said he found a rate for assaults
by wives of 124 per 1,000 couples, compared with 122 per 1,000 for
assaults by husbands(Clipping on husband abuse). The rate of minor
assaults is very common. The rate by wives was 78 per 1,000 couples,
and by men 72 per 1,000 couples( clipping on husband abuse). The
statistics are very similar for men and women therefore they should
have the same benefits for both genders. The significance of these
articles shows that men are not the only ones that assault the other
gender. Being that men and women are equal, as shown by these
statistics, it is unfair that is not widely publicized about the abuse of
men by their female counter parts.
With women and men being equal in committing violence then
they should serve the same amount of time in prison. “The average
sentence for violent women is more than 3 years shorter than the
sentence for man convicted of the same category of offense”( Violent
women). Therefore with women getting smaller sentences, they are
more likely to fall back on there past lives of battering men. As these
women batters reenter our society, they come back with the same
habits that they had when they entered prison, and these women
continue to batter the men they did before they entered prison. This
causes these men to be without a chance to recuperate and get away
from the abuse. Men and women committing the same type and
amount of crimes should serve the same amount of time in prison.
Now, that the fact that the number of male abuses is equal to
that of female abuses; there should be a equal number of places for
men to get help as there is for women. In 1995,there were 7,000 men
reported in Michigan who were physically abused by their wives,
girlfriends, or married partners. But there are no programs, shelters or
support groups for these men to go get help (Men’s issues). This
example shows how battered men have no political voice. With a
greater political voice these people would be able to have programs to
support them and let the public acknowledge what goes on around
them.
Although it has been proven that men are sometimes battered
by their partners, it is still commonly believed that men are batters of
women. This fact is deeply embedded into American minds and would
be increasingly hard to change in the minds of citizens. Facts show
that “in 95% of domestic assaults, the man is the perpetrator of
violence”(Men’s Issue). Women retaliate to the abuse of men in a
more violent and hostile nature. This causes for the more savage
nature of the incidences when men are abused. Often, self-defense is
the defense in court women use when they are charged





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