The Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence against women and their children has created a post about why they don’t focus on violence against men. [1] The excuses are things we have heard before. Both men and women are likely to be assaulted by a man. This means violence against women is “gendered” and therefore women are somehow superior victims. (!)

There is a severe lack of research about violence against men. [2] Most gender related research on violence focuses on women. There are reasons to believe that the number of women who are perpetrators of domestic violence and criminal activity in general is underestimated.

However, even if men are by far the most violent, that is no reason to ignore male victims. Men in Australia are more likely to be victims of physical assault than women and they’re more likely to be murdered. [3] The idea that there should be more focus on female victims of violence because of the supposedly gendered nature of it makes no sense. Victims are victims no matter what and they should be taken seriously regardless of gender. Yet this is not what is happening, women are somehow considered superior victims. If women got murdered more than men, then the issue would receive more attention. Since it is men who get murdered more than women, the issue is ignored. It somehow seems “natural” to people that men get beaten up and killed more, it is seen as something that is unworthy of attention. This is male disposability. Bringing more attention to male victimization will not undermine the importance of violence against women.

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