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

Word Count: 623