Sexist image of domestic violence: men are guilty until proven innocent

I HAVE never seen such a sexist picture in a national newspaper as that on your front page (Irish Examiner, November 23).

The image of a man’s closed fist with bruised knuckles, and accompanying headlines, took up the entire page.

The first instalment of your three-part series on domestic violence suggested that 45% of cases were either struck out or refused.

The implication was that these cases should have been given the go-ahead because men are guilty until proven innocent.

There was no mention of the fact that various studies have shown it is men — not women — who fail to report domestic violence and that it is men who are at greater risk of domestic violence, as various studies have found. Dr Susan Smith of TCD, the author of one such study, said their findings reflected those of other international studies and indicated intimate partner violence was a problem for both men and women.

I have never hit, or been hit, by a man and I have never hit a woman. But I was hit by a woman on one occasion for refusing to dance with her. I got a bang on the ear and I was knocked to the floor. No, I did nothing to deserve it, as this seems to be the assumption when a woman hits a man

However, on another occasion I did jump in to defend a woman after she had continued to berate a man in a silly argument. His reaction was to call her names and I shoved him away from her. Why? I don’t know? Maybe she might have hit him and he might have over-reacted?

You point out how women victims flee to seek shelter with their children. Imagine a man doing this. It would be called child abduction. Fathers, as such, do not exist in our constitution — they are not even mentioned.

Men don’t have a choice if they leave the family home in fear because they may never see their children again. Who is controlling whom?

There are no refuges for men to be turned away from other than a park bench or a door way.

The Irish Examiner is the only paper to make a real effort to tell this important story, but I wish you had adopted a more balanced approach.

Ciarán Hackett,

103 Upper Rathmines Road

Dublin 6.