by Bruce Watson
Amid the media frenzy over Tiger Woods and Bengals receiver Chris Henry, a key aspect of both stories slipped through the cracks: Like millions of other men, Woods and Henry were -- allegedly at least -- the victims of domestic violence perpetrated by their wives or girlfriends. Beyond its brutal physical and psychological costs, domestic violence against men exacts a cruel economic toll at the personal, societal and national levels.
For the most part, the media, authorities and average citizens see domestic violence as a crime that is committed by men and victimizes women. Consequently, funding to combat the problem has overwhelmingly been spent on programs that support women.
Widely Ignored Problem
And yet, more than 200 survey-based studies show that domestic violence is just as likely to strike men as women. In fact, the overwhelming mass of evidence indicates that half of all domestic violence cases involve an exchange of blows and the remaining 50% is evenly split between men and women who are brutalized by their partners.
Part of the reason that this problem is widely ignored lies in the notion that battered males are weak or unmanly. A good example of this is the Barry Williams case: Recently, the former Brady Bunch star sought a restraining order against his live-in girlfriend, who had hit him, stolen $29,000 from his bank account, attempted to kick and stab him and had repeatedly threatened his life.
It is hard to imagine a media outlet mocking a battered woman, but E! online took the opportunity to poke fun at Williams, comparing the event to various Brady Bunch episodes. Similarly, when Saturday Night Live ran a segment in which a frightened Tiger Woods was repeatedly brutalized by his wife, the show was roundly attacked -- for being insensitive to musical guest Rihanna, herself a victim of domestic violence.
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A Hidden Crime: Domestic Violence Against Men Is a Growing Problem
In Maine, it doesn't pay to be a man
February 1, 2010
In Maine, it doesn't pay to be a man
By Carey Roberts
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/roberts/100201
Practically everyone in town knows Amy Dugas is a serial batterer. But the Maine criminal justice system keeps finding ways to keep her from facing the music.
In 2004 Amy assaulted her husband Mark in their home in Waldoboro. When the police officer came to arrest her, she kicked him in the groin. The judge released her on bail, ordering her to refrain from using weapons. Four months later she stabbed Mark with a foot-long kitchen knife, fatally severing his pulmonary artery. At the trial, she got away with the trusty I-feared-for-my-life alibi.
Two years later Dugas spent 125 days in jail following an attack on a male friend. In 2007 she was arrested again, this time for assaulting Brian Pelletier, her new husband of three weeks.
Each time, Amy Dugas was let off the hook with a chivalrous slap on the wrist, even though many were demanding she do hard time at the state pen.
No doubt about it, Maine's domestic violence industry has friends in high places. One of them is Mary Kellett, Assistant District Attorney for the Bar Harbor area. Think of her as Michael Nifong on steroids.
Inspired by feminist Catherine Comins' sneer, "Men who are unjustly accused of rape can sometimes gain from the experience," Kellett has taken to prosecuting every allegation of sexual misconduct, often ignoring glaring inconsistencies in the woman's account or clear evidence of consensual activity: http://www.fillerfund.com/marykellett.htm
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Why haven’t we heard more about battered men?
Few people realize that women abuse men, why is that? According to Betsy Lucal[1] in order to bring attention to a social problem a number of factors must come together. There must be a social movement, professional and mass media attention and appropriate gender images.
The movement that defined domestic violence was encompassed within the feminist movement. This movement in the 70s helped to establish wife beating as a social problem. Images of wives beaten and fleeing their homes helped us to comprehend violence against women by men. Although the men’s movement worked to make husband beating a social problem they were unable to produce the same attention and empathy.
Read the rest of this article on the WE tv blog site
Be sure to catch: Husband Beaters Tuesday, December 22 at 3am | 2c On WE tv
In America, the term "Domestic Abuse" is typically associated with a victimized woman mercilessly beaten by an overbearing ogre of a husband. The fact is however, that more than a third of all DA cases feature males as victims, and even that number is considered low due to the relatively low reporting of these cases by men who are ashamed and afraid to do so. The stories in SLOW: Husband Beaters will provide an inside look at Domestic Abuse done to men from a variety of perspectives and shed light on a very dark and violent corner of America. Watch the Videos >>
Saturday, October 31, 2009
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE DOMESTIC ABUSE HELPLINE FOR MEN AND WOMEN
DAHMW does not have any paid staff so it is only through the generosity of volunteers who work tirelessly to bring this issue to the forefront and provide much needed support and services that we continue to do this work.
Please consider making a donation to help us increase our ability to do outreach and make services available to men, children and women! Thanks
Please donate today: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/207697
ALFRED, Maine — Kimberly Spampinato gave little reaction Thrusday in York County Superior Court when sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband, but tearful sorrow was seen among family members of the murder victim.
Spampinato, 42, who pleaded guilty in August to killing 39-year-old Christopher Spampinato by setting him on fire while he slept, also was sentenced Thursday afternoon to a concurrent 30-year sentence for one count of arson. She has the right to appeal.
“There is only one sentence that can be imposed,” said Justice Paul Fritzsche after reiterating the reasons for the sentences.
Both sentences, he said, were the maximum the state of Maine could issue, although “there is nothing we could do that is meaningful to assist the (family of the Christopher).”
On Jan. 8, while Christopher slept, Kimberly Spampinato, doused him and rolled up newspapers in gasoline, setting the paper and her husband on fire in his Wells apartment, said Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese, a state prosecutor in the case.
Christopher ran out of the apartment and was found by police badly burned and sitting in a snow bank that night, she said.
He died nine days later on Jan. 17 in the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to court records.
Spampinato set her husband on fire because he wanted a divorce and was having a phone relationship with a Texas woman, Nicki Lowhorn, according Marchese.
Though her attorney, Sarah Churchill, was arguing for a lesser sentence, Kimberly Spampinato told the court she'd be “relieved” to get life in prison. Amy McGarry is Spampinato's other defense attorney.
Fritzsche said that although it was Kimberly Spampinato's right not to apologize or show remorse for her actions, the lack of such during the sentencing showed that a life sentence without parole was applicable.
The York County judge also noted that from letters written from Kimberly Spampinato to Christopher's family it appeared that she “enjoyed” or “reveled” in his death, which was a certain rarity among even most murders.
During the courtroom sentence hearing, members of Christopher's family gave emotional statements encouraging that she has a history of violence and should be sentenced to life.
“Sometimes I can wake up and smell the burn unit where I watched him die slowly,” said Christopher's sister, Jennifer Cabot, reading from a statement.
Cabot said she wanted to be able to remember her brother for the “amazing person that he was.”
Kimberly Spampinato's attorneys said she had a terrible childhood, mental illness and did positive things in her working -life, where she was a nurse's assistant.
Churchill said her Spampinato's youth included sexual abuse and that she was working through her struggles with counseling and medication.
Fritzsche acknowledged those circumstances, but said by Spaminato setting her husband on fire, the situation became “extreme cruelty,” which was due cause for the sentence.
He also noted that public safety was a major concern by Maine courts.
While a few people, including Spampinato's ex-husband, gave statements that she should get life in prison, no one spoke on Spampinato's behalf.
She was quickly ushered out of the courtroom after the sentencing, while the victim's family gave each other hugs.
Outside the Alfred courthouse, Christopher's mother, Ann Cabot, convened with other family members. She was wearing some of her son's ashes around her neck.
Jennifer Cabot was, too.
“It's all done; everything is done,” Ann Cabot said, pausing to look up at the nearly cloudless sky. “She wanted life. She got it.”
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