jocelyn andersen

Waneta, I have to comment on the “Women who do abuse are more likely defending themselves…” I know what you meant and it is a valid point. But I have to add, defending one’s self–even by taking the offense–is not abuse and cannot be considered female violence. The last time I looked, self defense was not considered violence or abuse and was not against the law.

The numbers are terribly skewed in the “female violence” arena. Yes, females are growing more violent, but no more so than the ratio of violence in the culture at large is growing.

Many times, a domestic violence victim fights back in an effort to escape (the door is usually being blocked, the phone is ripped out of the wall or smashed to pieces, etc..) and she winds up being accused of assault and getting arrested herself, then the numbers get added to statistics on “gender violence committed by females.” This is so deceiving. Abusers are notorious for baiting their victims so they can claim they were attacked. I already knew this of course from first hand experience, but a police officer who responded to one of my calls for help confirmed it as well when he advised me to get out of the house because of the danger of that very thing happening.