Elizabeth Celi on the Abuse of Men by Women

Andrew Barry of Australia notes the following:

Conservatively, one in three victims of domestic abuse are male (see the latest ABS figures). Other research shows that it may, in fact, be one in two.

For almost two decades, those in the male rights movement have been trying to say, on the basis of this research, that there is a lot of misinformation being spread, due to the slanted politics associated with the issue of domestic violence. The new website has a page listing examples—many of them from government sources—of the misuse of statistics, and whether or not a retraction has been made of this misinformation.

So far, this is simply operating upon the standard definitions of ‘violence’ used to generate the figures of violence against women. One in Three also points out that the abuse of the male by his female partner often takes on a subtle form. Supporter of the campaign Melbourne psychologist Dr Elizabeth Celi says,

Unlike physical violence, many of the forms of domestic abuse faced by male victims are difficult to detect and hard for the man himself to defend against. A man's health is wrapped up in his identity. Attacking his self-worth through various forms of criticism, manipulation and intimidation are forms of emotional and verbal violence that we need to learn about as a society and say ‘Enough!’.

Elizabeth Celi also warns against the common tendency to dichotomize the issue, as if a stand against violence against men somehow detracts from a stand against violence against women. Perhaps this explains the misinformation and the difficulty men's rights have had in changing public perceptions. But there is no need for the dichotomy. This is basically about a common sense of humanity. If it is wrong for men to abuse women (and children), it is equally wrong for women to abuse men (and children).

End quote. For a quick entrée into Elizabeth Celi’s take on the current situation, check out this video. Websites here and here. 

Comments

[Mitchell Powell]

Wow. Come think of it, we do make a strange cultural dichotomy in ignoring violence against men. As soon as I saw the title of the post, I saw in my head an image of a woman going after a man with a frying pan, and it amused me. I think that's sympomatic of our culture's unbalanced attitude toward violence. Kudos for your sensitive handling of an issue we all generally would rather ignore.

[JohnFH]

It's an issue a pastor is inevitably familiar with.

Thank you, Mitchell, for your very fine blogging.