Male victims: domestic violence is not about gender

IN introducing an item on domestic violence on the Late Late Show on 20 October, Pat Kenny began by stating that “as many men suffer physical abuse at the hands of their wives and partners as women.”

The remarkable thing about his introduction was not the statement, but the reaction to it. Virtually all emails to the show accepted the veracity of his statement and many expressed the view that men in such situations should receive the same level of support as women.

Had Pat Kenny made the same statement 10 years ago, it would probably have been met with denial, derision and indeed ridicule. That was the reaction that Amen encountered initially.