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