Everyone does not seem to have a “want of knowledge.” Another “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” has passed and the President of the United States, the United States Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Violence Against Women choose to remain as ignorant concerning the issue of domestic violence when the month ends as they were when the month of October began.

The ignorance concerning domestic violence should not come as much of a surprise concerning the general populace. Most people, males and females, continue to ignore the issue of domestic violence, as if it will never effect their lives. Battering behavior does not occur in many families, but family conflict does.

However, one would think our leaders should be able to see the truth concerning domestic violence when it is their agencies that are reporting the truth. They, after all, are the people who lead the agencies that are attempting to educate us concerning the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The President of the United States, the United States Attorney General and the Director of the Violence Against Women Office need to pledge to themselves that they will meet the needs of ALL the victims of domestic violence. To become enlightened and informed, all they have to do is to read their own studies. They choose not to. Many of these studies are sponsored by the United States Department of Justice only to be ignored by these three leaders.

The National Institute of Justice is the agency John Ashcroft purports to lead. The Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Batterer Programs: What Criminal Justice Agencies Need to Know, and The Criminalization of Domestic Violence, and Findings About Partner Violence From the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study are just a few of many reports that document that domestic violence is a problem for women, children and men.

With a simple click of a mouse on any of the above reports the information concerning the truth about domestic violence is there for them to read and comprehend. Why is it all three remain unable or unwilling to say the “M” word?

The Director of the Violence Against Women Office, Diane M. Stuart, standing on the same platform as the President and the Attorney General proclaimed that, “When domestic violence is ignored thousands of women and their families’ lives are at risk. Women and their families deserve to live safe and health lives, free of violence. We encourage everyone to support this effort.” She purposely ignores using the “M” word and by doing so is casting aside any concerns for the lives of male victims.

Both President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft proclaimed, “Domestic violence is wrong and destroys the lives of far too many women and children.” They are careful not to mention the “M” word. However, the findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, sponsored in part by the Department of Justice, notes that the annual rate of intimate partner assaults is 44.2 per 1,000 women and 31.5 per 1,000 men.  However, it seems that these numbers must be ignored.

It appears that when the lives of men are destroyed, it matters not to the President, the Attorney General or the Director of the Violence Against Women Office. After all, it is not violence against women or children, so why the concern? Not one of these three people, not once could bring themselves to use the “M” word when speaking of domestic violence victims.

A report sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, “Violence by Intimates,” notes that between 1976 and 1996, 64% of female intimate partner victims were killed by their husbands, 5% by ex-husbands and 32% by partners/boyfriends. Of male victims, 62% were killed by their wives, 4% by ex-wives and 34% by partners/girlfriends.  

The same study documents that from 1976 to 1996 31,260 women and 20,311 men were murdered by an intimate partner. This number of male victims must be ignored at all costs. And sadly none of the “M” lives seem to mean anything to the President, the Attorney General and certainly not to the Director of the Violence Against Women Office.

It appears that these three, the President, the Attorney General and the Director, who claim to be concerned about the victims of domestic violence care not a wit about male victims. If they did, one would think that they would be included each year when the victims who have died are remembered. And the facts speak for themselves, male victims are ignored, are invisible, or are inconsequential. They simply do not matter at all. I suppose this is simply another lesson concerning the ignorance of others, for my three daughters and two sons and in fact for all of us.

And as many loyal Red Sox fans understand, I suppose those “M’s” will just have to wait, once again, until next year.