The less explored side of family domestic violence

Article here. Here:

'The Community Oriented Policing group in Puslinch decided to bring family domestic violence to the forefront and has spent this past year carrying out various activities to highlight the support available and to bring awareness to this issue. This group culminated its year-long effort by holding an information night and silent auction. All auction proceeds went to Women in Crisis and Victim Services of Guelph-Wellington. An audience of more than 40 — about half of which were men — attended. Our guest speaker, representing Women in Crisis, began her talk by equating domestic violence with abuse to women. She said violence toward a male is very rare and it has to be recognized that when violence occurs within families, the victim is almost always a woman. As the speaker went on, I could see some in the audience getting a little antsy — myself included. It was beginning to sound like men were the root of all evil. Some audience members challenged her assumptions, but the speaker asserted her position.

So, I decided to scratch the surface and dig into some data on domestic violence. The results were very eye-opening. Statistics Canada shows an alarming and growing trend. More women than ever before are attacking their domestic partners, but despite some progress, male abuse has yet to be recognized as a public issue. Most abuse toward males goes unreported because men are seen as bigger and more powerful, so it is seen as weakness if they concede they are victims. When men do confide in others, they are often met with disbelief.'