Woman Arrested for Unwanted Hugging

Brooksville, Florida - The Hernando County Sheriff's Office says they arrested a Brooksville woman for giving an unwanted hug.

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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read the arrest report here (in pdf)

Domestic violence: Men are victims of abuse, too

Domestic violence: Men are victims of abuse, too BY DOUG HARLOW Staff Writer 02/22/2009

HARMONY -- Every 21 seconds, somewhere in America a woman is raped or battered, according to a November 2000 Department of Justice report on the National Violence Against Women survey.

And every 38 seconds, somewhere in America a man is battered or raped by his intimate partner. An estimated 1.5 million women and 835,000 men are the victims of domestic violence each year. The reports show a raw, new face of spousal abuse -- where men and boys are also victims, said Jan Brown, director and founder of Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men & Women, based in Harmony. Brown, 52, and members of her support staff are to be the subjects of an upcoming documentary about male victims of domestic violence. The one-hour documentary is part of the series called "Secret Lives of Women" and will be aired this spring on WE tv, a cable-TV outlet. "For 30 years, we've giving women more rights than men," Brown said in a recent interview at her rural home. "That's what has developed over the last 30 years; the pendulum has swung way too far." Brown said the general public was previously taught domestic violence happens because of men's need to dominate and control women. While that may have appeared to be the case in the 1950s and 60s, it isn't today. Women aren't all at home taking care of the kids, but have high-paying jobs. In some cases, it's the man who is home taking care of the children. "We've switched that around, (so) why do we have this antiquated belief about domestic violence?" Brown said. Nick Verbitsky, with his brother Paul, and Blue Chip Films, a production company from Norwalk, Conn., traveled to Harmony recently to film the documentary. read more of this article

Petition to gauge the public's views on domestic violence victim's services

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.

Participation is needed for a study on domestic violence against men

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.