Eimear
International studies show that domestic violence is visited upon both genders but women are more dangerous because they tend to use weapons compared to men using fists.
Isn’t it extraordinary that these data are either ignored or denied by women and their State funded Quangos. Additionally more than ninety percent of Health Promotion programmes that are free at point of delivery address Women’s needs rather than both genders. Where’s the equality that women scream for in these facts.

Garry, you’re showing these studies completely out of context. A lot of women who use weapons do so in self defence due to a physically stronger partner. It’s an issue which should be discussed and addressed, but portraying it as all women being in a conspiracy rather than due to a combination of cultural stereotypes and a history of inadequate legal assistance doesn’t help your case.

Legislation should address the problem from both the viewpoint of men and women. Don’t get me wrong I understand that it can be as bad for men and possibly even harder for them to change it because of gender stereotyping. I think my comment before came out wrong but Patrick’s comment angered me in that he made it out like women used these claims as a method of influencing men’s access to their children.

@Garry – I don’t know about the statistics you have, I do remember reading some study saying that women are more likely to attack with a weapon and cause greater injury, but it still showed that overall men are much more often likely to be the one to attack.

From my own experience, as regards domestic abuse, women are so much worse when it comes to being mentally abusive. Sure, I was hit but I weigh about 17 stone, just under 6ft and I am very well built, so I was never really hurt or in danger from physical abuse….but when you have somebody screaming at you, and you shout at them in anger to stop…then she tries to provoke a physical reaction because she knows what kind of power she has over you if you lay a finger on her. If you are generally a non-violent person, that is the worst feeling in the world when you realise you had to restrain your body from lashing out at someone. Best thing to do is walk away and wait for things to settle down.

T

Patrick
I would go much further. All State funding to women’s groups should be equally divided between both genders and where a representative body deals specifically with a gender specific issue like breast cancer the same funding should go to a prostate cancer Organisation.
The pie that women’s groups munch at is enormous with little being available to men’s groups. It’s time for equality.

So more women should continue to suffer needlessly at the hands of their partners because your motor insurance might have been higher? Ill accept that not all claims for a barring order might be genuine but they cannot be dismissed. This would be a positive step forward in dealing with the countless women who are being used and abused behind closed doors.

I understand where you are coming from Partick, but an us and them attitude is the last thing we need. The law is skewed in favour of women but that is down to the constitution, which definitely could do with an overhaul since Ireland has changed so much.

I agree that domestic violence as an issue affecting all genders needs to be tackled but it does mainly affect women. I think blokes just need to become more active in speaking out about it and then it will become easier for future victims.

I remember my aunt getting the shit kicked of her by her husband when I was young and it sickens me that she is still with the bloke to this day. She moved away from the rest of her family because they hated him so much. All her children had left the country. She had no reason to stay…but still did. I wonder if the support had been there when it began would she be away from her loved ones still.

Barring orders simply mean that you can’t contact the person – if a woman is so vindictive that she is willing to lie about a barring order, why would you WANT to contact her? This is why they are often granted – even if there’s not abuse, there is clearly a dysfunctional relationship and the two should probably not be in close contact!

Contact can always still be made through a mediator regarding children and in all of these cases, is probably the healthier option.

Thank you Patrick.
Your comment was a very brief but pertinent comment in relation to domestic violence.
I personally would be in favour of an investigation into the extent of emotional abuse against men.
Emotional abuse is very often a triggering factor for physical abuse against women.

Thank you Dayzee.

@Frank2521, not contradicting you Frank, but where did you get that info.?