Not even a statistic: Why were male victims left out of equation?

READING Fergus Finlay’s column (Irish Examiner, October 24), I was reminded of Bob Dylan’s line: ‘Maybe someday I’ll remember to forget.’

Mr Finlay quotes a variety of statistics which apply, he claims, to female victims of domestic violence. But he remembers to forget to include figures regarding male victims. In fact, he forgets to mention male victims at all.

Mr Finlay goes on to refer to the effect domestic violence can have on children. Does he believe that children are only affected when the mother is the victim?

This omission is all the more surprising given the recent high profile of female-perpetrated domestic violence. On the day before Mr Finlay’s column was published, the UK’s Channel Five broadcast an hour-long documentary entitled Battered Men: Hidden Lives.

On the previous Friday, the Late Late Show also featured a discussion on male victims. The European Journal of Practice recently published results from a Trinity College Dublin survey that showed men and women experience domestic violence at similar rates. These results are consistent with several international studies and with the four previous two-sex studies carried out in Ireland.

There is such an abundance of information on this topic it is difficult to see how the chief executive of Barnardos could have forgotten it all, unless of course he remembered to do so.

Patrick McGinnity

Derrynoose

Keady

Co Armagh.