http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article3345172.ece
Defender
of
abused women finds a new cause: male victims
By Emily Dugan
Published: 17 January 2008
Erin Pizzey, the
campaigner who pioneered treatment for
abused women by setting up Britain's first refuge centre for victims of
domestic violence in the 1970s, is now turning her attention to another
group
of often overlooked victims: men.
Launching an
online
campaign and research project aimed at bringing the issue out in the
open, Ms
Pizzey is hoping to raise awareness of abuse perpetrated by women
against men –
a subject she describes as "one of the last taboos". She has put a
questionnaire on the website femininezone.com that allows women to
answer
questions anonymously about how they treat men.
As many as one in six men are thought to suffer physical and mental
abuse at
the hands of women, yet the topic is widely seen as insignificant or
implausible.
"I feel that this kind of violence is one of the last taboos – men are
reluctant to talk about it, and so are the women who are doing it,"
said
Ms Pizzey, whose father was abused by her mother. "Much is known and
studied about male violence, but very little is written about women,
and any
attempt to discuss female violence is met with rabid attacks and howls
of
'blaming the victim'."
During the 1970s, Ms Pizzey created safe havens for hundreds of abused
women,
but she found it increasingly frustrating that people could only see
females as
victims. As she tried to create similar sanctuaries for men, she
discovered
that even those who had been generous towards her women's centres would
not
consider giving funding.
"I imagined people who had given money to my women's projects would
also
give it over for the men, but not one gave money," she said.
"It's shocking that across the world there are no facilities giving
sanctuary for men, and no sympathy. I think it's a deeply held taboo
that if a
man is assaulted by a woman he is weak, but if a woman is assaulted by
a man
she is a victim. It's social conditioning."
Samantha Wilson, a therapist working in London and Manchester who
specialises in domestic abuse, says she often sees men who were injured
by women.
"I've been working with cases of violence for 20 years, and many of
them
have been women abusing men," she said. "This could be happening to
people you know and you simply wouldn't realise."
According to Ms Pizzey, the issue is greeted with scepticism by police
and
social services who, she says, often "refuse to believe" it. She
hopes that by discussing violent women in the open she may be able to
bring
about change.
Next month, she is travelling to Sacramento, California, to
attend the first conference on domestic abuse to deal with men and
women as
perpetrators.
Boyfriend became punch-bag
Anna, 35, appeared to have everything, but beneath the respectable
facade, she
was living a secret life of violence. Abused as a child, she found
herself repeating
the abuse. After just a few months with her boyfriend, Paul, arguments
started
by her became regular, and after a while she became violent. Sometimes
it was a
kick or a punch, but on other occasions she would throw heavy objects
at him,
until finally she threatened him with a knife. Anna knew she needed
help and
sought out a hypnotist. After several sessions she began to control her
anger,
and now she and Paul plan to marry.
Names have been changed to protect
identities