Recently, Men's Health America posted an analysis of the WHO's World Report on Violence and Health. Even though violence is a problem that predominantly affects men, MHA criticized the WHO Report as being biased because it emphasizes the less frequent instances of violence against women.

Other articles by Carey Roberts can be found in the Men's News Daily archive

But some persons have taken issue with this conclusion. They argue that since men are more likely to be the perpetrators of violence, then isn't the emphasis on female victimization justified? In other words, shouldn't male-on-male violence be less worrisome than male-on-female violence?

My response is that the sex of the perpetrator is irrelevant to the issue. Consider these questions:

1. Mothers are more likely than fathers to abuse their children. When daughters are being harmed, should society be less worried about that because it represents female-on-female abuse?

2. In almost all cases, the persons who abduct infants from hospitals are female. When a woman abucts a baby girl from the hospital, is that less of a concern then when a woman robs a baby boy?

3. Several recent books reveal that up to one-quarter of all lesbian relationships are affected by domestic violence (2-4). Should victims of lesbian partner aggression be ignored because they have have been involved in female-on-female violence?

4. In Africa, the practitioners of female genital mutilation are female. Does that fact make female genital mutilation a less gruesome procedure?

Clearl, the answer to all four questions is "No." Our compassion for the victim of abuse, aggression, or violence should not be diminished by the gender, race, or any other characteristic of the perpetrator. A person who has been harmed by violence warrants our concern, regardless of the sex of the person who caused the injury.

So we come back to the assumption implicit in the WHO Report that male victims of violence deserve less attention and services than female victims -- doesn't this represent a pernicious example of a gender double-standard?

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WHO Contact Info:

Etienne Krug
World Health Organization
Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention
20 Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
FAX: + 41 (22) 791 4332
TEL: + 41 (22) 791 3480

Cost of first-class postage from the United States: 80 cents

References

1. Men's Health America. The WHO Violence Report: When Victimization Becomes Invisible. October 17, 2002.

2. Girshick LB. Woman to woman sexual violence: Does she call it rape? Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002.

3. Kaschack E (editor). Intimate betrayal: Domestic violence in lesbian relationships. Haworth, 2002.

4. Ristock I. No more secrets: Violence in lesbian relationships. Routledge, 2002.