Brooksville, Florida - The Hernando County 
Deputies say they responded to the home of Lori Smith and Kevin Connelly shortly after midnight Monday. When they got there, deputies say Lori told them she tried to hug Kevin twice, however he pushed her away because he did not wish to be hugged. Kevin claims Lori grabbed him several times, so he threw her on the bed to get away from her.
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I have noticed over the last two years that the subject of female on male perpetrated domestic violence appears to be "less vehemently opposed" and has become more "accepted as self evident" by society. For this reason I thought it was time to formally gauge the public's views on services for victims.
To sign the petition click here
Here is the wording from the petition:
For decades domestic abuse has been looked upon as a social problem of violence against women by men. Battered women's advocates and others concerned about domestic violence have created and funded over 2000 non profit agencies across the country that help victims. For more than 20 years these agencies have specialized in offering a full spectrum of services to what has been considered the traditional victims of domestic violence, women and children.
Yet society has changed a great deal since we first became aware of the violence that goes on behind close doors. Men are now stay at home dads, some do the cooking, cleaning, laundry, change diapers, give the kids their baths and food shop...all the things that were unheard for men to do back in the 1950's and 60's when we first started recognizing the social problem of domestic violence.
Women have changed quite a bit also. Many work outside the home, some hold high powered jobs and others run cement mixers. Women are also doing things that were unheard of in the 50's & 60's. They also get violent with their spouses/boyfriends and children.
Our current system that offers supportive services to victims of intimate partner violence, everything from obtaining a court order to keep victims safe to clothing and transitional housing, for the most part, still runs under the antiquated notion that 95 - 98% of domestic abuse victims are women abused by men. This means that services for men abused by women or other men in same sex relationships are nearly non existent in these federally funded shelter programs.
If you believe that federal and state funded domestic violence victims shelter programs should be mandated to support any victim and give them same opportunities and services regardless of their gender, age, able-ism, ethnicity, religious beliefs or race etc. please sign our petition.
A lack of research and a drive to create awareness that men, too experience domestic abuse, has prompted Kathleen Kline, a doctoral candidate with Walden University School of Psychology, to conduct a study on male and female victims of dating violence in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships among college students.
If you’d like to participate in this study, you must fit into the following criteria:
• You must be 18-25 years old
• You must be currently attending college
• You are or have been in dating relationships and have experienced at least one incident of physical, psychological and/or sexual abuse within this dating relationships, especially men in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships.
The study requires you to take a simple survey. You may exit the survey at any time, but please note, all your of the questionnaires which constitute the survey must be completed in full for your response to count. This survey is also completely confidential and anonymous and others, including this researcher, will know no personal information. The survey will take approximately 25 minutes of your time.
What do you gain by participating in this study:
• You may gain valuable insights into yourself and/or relationship
• You may contribute to social change efforts designed to create awareness that men are victims too and the need to develop services and resources designed to assist male victims who might not otherwise seek help.
• You will be helping others in a similar situation.
To access the survey, hosted on a secured, password-protected survey site, please click here. enter the password: Butterfly007
Your participation in this study would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions or problems accessing the survey, please feel free to e-mail Kathleen at her personal and confidential e-mail address: kkathleen57@yahoo.com.
A recent ruling of the California Appellate Court found that California domestic violence laws violate battered men's rights because they provide state funding only for women and their children who use shelters and other programs. Finally! Common sense wins out over ideology.
Our agency specializes in working with men who are in relationships with abusive women so the question of why domestic violence shelter programs make it a rule not to offer abused men services has come up quite often. With over 2000 shelter programs in 50 states that specialize in services for battered women and children and NO shelters for battered men the question is a valid and important one.
Although battered men have been treated like abusers and made invisible for the last 30 years of the battered women's movement they do exist and in greater numbers than many have been led to believe. No doubt research has found that women are the more injured group of victims but there are many facets to domestic violence and physically injury is just one of them.
The movement that has brought public awareness and services to domestic violence has not been so much a movement to end domestic violence as it has been a movement to end violence against women. What's the difference you might ask. Well it's the difference between being able to protect yourself and your children and being in a great deal of danger. What if we gave military men the appropriate protective gear, guns, and hand grenades as they went into a battle and then turned around and told military women that there aren't enough of them to be concerned with so no equipment for you-- just duck and run really fast? That wouldn't go over too big now would it? Yet this is what our current domestic violence system does to battered men everyday in this country.
According to the appellate courts decision 85% of California women's shelters offer services to battered men. That's not what we hear from battered men on our helpline. Domestic violence shelter programs responses to men calling for help run the gamut from, "we don't help men," to (although this isn't said directly it's inferred) "IF we believe he is a victim and not a perpetrator we may pay for one or two days in a hotel or refer him to a homeless shelter."
If homeless shelters are appropriate and safe for male victims of domestic violence (and their children) to stay in then why is it that we have specialized shelters for victims of domestic violence?
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