The National Domestic Violence Hotline
November 4, 2005
You should try to be twice as good so that you will not be seen as twice as mean. - Hazel Davis
In response to a recent MND article of mine, Misinformation Central:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Women Health) corrected misinformation about violence against men on their website.
Most agencies ignore my postings that document the exclusion of male victimization. The Assistant Secretary did not ignore my concerns and I truly appreciate her prompt and courteous response. I am also thankful that changes on their website were made almost immediately.
Recently the Centers for Disease Control National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Intimate Partner Violence: Overview has also started to honestly acknowledge male intimate partner victimization.
We all know that half truth can be more harmful than lies because they are lies in the guise of the truth. That is why it is particularly troubling to see that the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) continues to minimize, marginalize and ignore male victimization. What is equally troubling is the fact that our public policy makers continue to pour many millions of dollars into this organization.
The NDVH ignores the fact that domestic violence by statute law in all fifty states is child, sibling, spousal, intimate partner, and elder abuse. This organization continues to believe, despite reams of public and private data to the contrary, that domestic violence is violence against heterosexual women by heterosexual men. All of their victims are portrayed as women.
The total number of children, heterosexual men, lesbians and gay men who are victims exceeds the total number of heterosexual women who are victims of domestic violence. These victims are ignored by the NDVH.
When you visit the NDVH website and click on “Get Educated” and then click on “Abuse Statistics in America” that section clearly reveals that those responsible for this website ignore the victimization of children, heterosexual men, lesbians and gay men. The NDVH “Abuse in America” page is filled with half truths.
The NDVH documents that “4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an average 12 month period.” The NDVH ignores the serious assaults children, heterosexual men, lesbians and gay men experience in a year.
The NDVH ignores the fact that the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) documents that 50% of women and 32% of men who are assaulted by an intimate partner report suffering an injury.
The NDVH ignores the fact that the National Violence Against Women Survey documents that 39.0% of women and 24.8% of men report being injured during their most recent physical assault.
Next the NDVH documents that, “On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. The NDVH ignores the fact that wives and girlfriends are also committing homicides against their husbands and boyfriends. Should not our public policy makers question why the NDVH ignores offending of women and the deaths of men?
Next the NDVH documents that “92% of women say that reducing domestic violence and sexual assault should be at the top of any formal efforts taken on behalf of women today.” Again, it seems that domestic violence and sexual assaults against children, heterosexual men, lesbians and gay men is not of concern to the NDVH.
Next the NDVH documents that, “1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.” The NDVH does, or should know, that using the same methodology the data for children, heterosexual men, lesbians and gay men will be proportionally the same.
Next the NDVH documents that, “1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. Abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors. They are 4 to 6 time more likely to get pregnant and 8 to 9 times more likely to have tried to commit suicide.”
The above information appears in the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS). The YRBSS documents 8.8% of girls and 8.9% of boys report that they were hit, slapped or physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend. The same page of the YRBSS also documents that 11.9% of girls and 6.1% of boys were physically forced to have sexual intercourse.
The YRBSS also documents that boys are far more likely than girls to get involved in risky behaviors. It is also common knowledge, hence the NDVH, must be aware of it, that far more boys than girls commit suicide.
I have to stop here because I have documented almost all of these lies – and they continue on the NDVH website - in the guise of half truths many times before. Can it be that not a single public policy maker in America has every read the NDVH “Abuse in America” page?
Why is it that our public policy makers continue to fund an organization that so blatantly and publicly documents it is more concerned with heterosexual women than children, heterosexual men, lesbians, and gay men?
Perhaps it is time that our public policy makers, before providing more millions of dollars, should ask why the NDVH ignores the victimization of children, heterosexual men, lesbians and gay men.
