PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Gina Lauterio

Email: glauterio@saveservices.org

SAVE Denounces President Obama’s Misleading Portrayal of Domestic Violence

WASHINGTON / February 10, 2015 – A leading domestic violence organization is criticizing President Obama for use of highly misleading claims on domestic violence. In a taped message to viewers of the Grammy awards Sunday night, President Obama called for an end to “violence against women and girls.” The President did not mention the problem of domestic violence against men and boys, even though males are equally likely to be victims of female-perpetrated abuse.

The problem of female-perpetrated violence has been documented in hundreds of studies. A research summary by Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, PhD of the University of South Alabama reported that females were more likely than males to be the perpetrators of unidirectional violence, by a two-to-one margin.

One compilation of 286 scholarly investigations concludes, “women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners:” http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

SAVE has previously requested the Obama Administration to rely on accurate information in its domestic violence efforts: http://www.saveservices.org/camp/biased-briefing/biden-the-view/

In December the Department of Justice reported that each year, less than one percent of college women are victims of sexual assault. Nonetheless, the White House website still displays a Fact Sheet that states, “One in five women is sexually assaulted in college:” http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/29/fact-sheet-not-alone-protecting-students-sexual-assault

“Victims of partner abuse are not served by deceptive misrepresentations of the truth,” notes SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “Administration officials should assure that anti-abuse programs are based on fact, reason, and science, not gender ideology.”

SAVE has compiled Seven Key Facts About Domestic Violence: http://www.saveservices.org/key-facts/

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence and sexual assault: www.saveservices.org