For a scholarly analysis of the data on male victims, the historical suppression of the data, and a solid refutation of the arguments made by feminists who want to minimize and downplay male victims, see Professor Linda Kelly's excellent law review article, "Disabusing the Definition of Domestic Abuse; How Women Batter Men and the Role of the Feminist State," 30 Florida State Law Review 791 (2003) (pdf).
A Canadian government (pdf) report highlights some of the key data showing women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men do.
Patricia Overberg, former director of Valley Oasis, has a sworn (pdf) declaration about what happened when her DV shelter began helping male victims as well as female victims.
Richard J. Gelles, Ph.D., author of "The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence: Male Victims", originally published in The Women's Quarterly, 1999, states, "[C]ontrary to the claim that women only hit in self-defense, we found that women were as likely to initiate the violence as were men. In order to correct for a possible bias in reporting, we reexamined our data looking only at the self-reports of women. The women reported similar rates of female-to-male violence compared to male-to-female, and women also reported they were as likely to initiate the violence as were men."
Even crime surveys, which are conducted by asking participants about "crime" (and thus limit the figures only to DV that is seen as "crime"), now show that at least 25% of DV is against men and that 25% of perpetrators are women.
California men interested in joining this lawsuit should contact Marc E. Angelucci, Esq.
For more information about California fathers' rights visit these websites:
National Coalition of Free Men Los Angeles Chapter
California Aliance for Families and Children
Comeback Dads
Child's Right
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