Males Also Suffer From Domestic Violence
Your article on Latina victims of domestic violence (“Latina Victims of Abuse Have a Newfound Voice,” Nov. 20) unfairly ignores male victims in the Latino community and reinforces the stereotypes that discourage battered men from seeking help. When battered men don’t seek help, their abuse goes underreported, and comprehensive solutions to the problem are impeded.
When my friend’s abusive wife broke his teeth with an ashtray she hurled in a drunk fit, the only shelter in California that would help a male was the Valley Oasis shelter in Lancaster, over an hour away. So he didn’t seek help, and the violence just continued. Not only is he a victim, but so are their children, who see it and then think it’s OK to beat their own partners.
Cal State Long Beach psychology professor Martin Fiebert summarized 118 studies, with an aggregate sample size exceeding 72,000, showing that “women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners.” Even the National Institute of Justice, in its gender-specific Violence Against Women Survey, found that 835,000 men and 1.5 million women had been victims of spousal rape or battery in the previous 12 months.
Unless we tell the whole truth about domestic violence, the cycle will only continue.
MARC ANGELUCCI
Co-founder of Men
Enabling New Solutions
Los Angeles
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