Cathy Young: 'Battered women - and men'

Article here. Excerpt:

'LYNN Rosenthal, a veteran of the battered women’s advocacy movement, was named to the new post of White House counsel on violence against women on June 26. On the same day, a conference opened in Los Angeles disputing the basic tenets of the movement Rosenthal represents - such as the view that domestic violence is overwhelmingly a male crime against women rooted in patriarchal power. Speakers argued for new policies based on a fuller understanding of the problem. Is there a way to bridge the gaps between these competeing paradigms?

Challenges to feminist orthodoxy on domestic violence are often seen as anti-feminist backlash from angry men. But this conference, “From Ideology to Inclusion 2009: New Directions in Domestic Violence Research and Intervention’’ (sponsored by the California Alliance for Families and Children), could not be so easily dismissed. The speakers included scholars, social workers, and counselors; about half were women.'