FAMILY VIOLENCE

- AUSTRALIA SAYS NO!

THE ONE IN THREE CAMPAIGN

One in Three is a diverse group of male and female professionals – academics, researchers, social workers, psychologists, counsellors, lawyers, health promotion workers, trainers and survivor/advocates. The Campaign aims to raise public awareness of the existence and needs of male victims of family violence and abuse; to work with government and non-government services alike to provide assistance to everyone affected by family violence; and to reduce the incidence and impacts of family violence on Australian men, women and children. Download our March 2015 Report.

Listen to excellent radio interviews from the ABC Life Matters program with a male victim and female ex-perpetrator of domestic violence.

WHAT IS FAMILY VIOLENCE?

Family violence and abuse is a serious and deeply entrenched problem in Australia. It has significant impacts upon the lives of men, women and children. It knows no boundaries of gender, geography, socio-economic status, age, ability, sexual preference, culture, race or religion. Domestic violence between partners, boyfriends and girlfriends (also known as intimate partner violence or IPV); violence between other family members (siblings, parents, children, aunts, uncles, and grandparents); most elder abuse, child abuse and sexual abuse are all different forms of family violence. Thankfully reducing family violence against women and children has been firmly on the agendas of government for many years. Now is the time to move to the next, more sophisticated stage of tackling the problem: recognising men as victims as well.

AT LEAST ONE IN THREE VICTIMS IS MALE

Contrary to common beliefs, up to One in Three victims of sexual assault and at least One in Three victims of family violence and abuse is male1 (perhaps as many as one in two - see our overview of research page). The vast majority (94%) of perpetrators of intimate partner violence against males are female, reflecting the fact that the vast majority of intimate relationships are heterosexual (men in same-sex relationships are just as likely as straight men to experience IPV). Other family members who perpetrate violence against males are just as likely to be male as female.

LATEST DATA FROM THE ABS AND AIC

View Fact Sheet Download Fact Sheet (PDF) Research from the 2016 ABS Personal Safety Survey and Australian Institute of Criminology shows that both men and women in Australia experience substantial levels of violence. Males make up a significant proportion of victims of family and sexual violence, yet are excluded from government anti-violence programs such as Our Watch and ANROWS. 75 males were killed in domestic homicide incidents between 2012-14. This equates to one death every 10 days.

RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIP POSTERS

One in Three has produced a series of seven free digital poster designs aimed at educating boys and young men about respectful and healthy relationships. Covering issues such as sexual abuse/unwanted sex, social abuse/isolation and physical and emotional abuse, the posters aim to encourage young males not to accept unhealthy or abusive behaviours in their relationships.

1IN3 RESPONDS TO NO TO VIOLENCE AND DR MICHAEL FLOOD

The One in Three Campaign has responded to a reply by No To Violence to a question taken on notice about male perpetrators at the November 5, 2014 hearing of the Senate Committee inquiry into Domestic Violence. Our response, lodged with the Senate Committee inquiry in December 2014, is finally able to be released after being accepted by the Committee as correspondence some 5 months later. Our response also contains a detailed analysis and rebuttal of claims made in a seminar paper by Dr Michael Flood titled "He Hits, She Hits: Assessing debates regarding men’s and women’s experiences of domestic violence," that was presented a number of times during the second half of 2012. Read the full 1IN3 response.

KEY FACTS AND STATS

MALE VICTIMS LACK SUPPORT

While many services have quite rightly been established over the past four decades to support female victims of family violence, the needs of male victims remain largely unmet. Historically government policies have been based on the assumption that the vast majority of perpetrators are male and the vast majority of victims are female, and the policies of current governments are still based on this erroneous position. Indeed, regretfully, the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children did not include male victims in their otherwise laudable March 2009 recommendations which have been enthusiastically supported by the federal government and the Council of Australian Governments. Now is the time for action by politicians and community leaders to recognise that a comprehensive approach is required to combat the scourge of family violence.

REDUCING FAMILY VIOLENCE

Family violence and abuse can never be excused or justified, however, in order to reduce the levels of violence in the family, we must seek to understand the causes and contexts that give rise to it. We need to address the complexities of violence. All victims need compassionate and highly responsive support, and all perpetrators need services to help them stop their use of violence and abuse. Dysfunctional relationships in which both parties use violence need to be supported to change, as it is these environments that are clearly the most harmful to children.

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1 Much international research demonstrates that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. For a bibliography examining 286 scholarly investigations with an aggregate sample size exceeding 371,600 see http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm