Latest research finds DV figures vastly exaggerated and both men and women likely to be victims in equal numbers.

Note the comment about women being injured more often. This is not supported to any great extent by research in Australia. For example using statistics for crime related injuries in the home a University of WA 1996 study, measuring the extent of domestic violence, showed men were victims in 45% of cases.Other hospital surveys have shown men receiving more severe injuries because women often use a weapon to attack.

Statistics for men may very well be much higher, but it is generally accepted that men do not report injuries as often as women. It’s a “stick a bandaid on and she’ll be right, mate” attitude. Ed.

Men suffer equally on violence in the home

MEN are just as likely to be victims of domestic violence as women, according to the results of a Home Office survey issued yesterday. The research showed that 4.2 per cent of men and the same percentage of women said they were assaulted last year.

Male victims were likely to be under 25, working part-time and in households where there were financial difficulties. They may have had a long-term illness or disability. The women victims were also young and more at risk if they were at home with children or separated from their partners.

The research also said, however, that women were twice as likely to have been injured, three times more likely to have faced serious threats and were more likely to have been assaulted at least three times.

The study suggested that the risk of domestic violence was increasing and one reason might be that young people had more relationships, living with different partners.

The survey, based on the British Crime Survey for 1996, concluded there were 6.6 million incidents of domestic violence in 1995.