Mythology is killing the solutions to domestic violence

Clearly Australia, we have it wrong. We urgently need to provide services that also understand men's experience of harm and victimization - and this extends to the vast number of men who are also victims of domestic violence in Australia.

The Federal Government has become so blinkered by its albeit necessary approach of supporting women, that they have missed the very desperate need to also address men's experience of violence and abuse.

Myth: Women are the 'overwhelming' victims

According to an experimental data-set released of Family And Domestic Violence Statistics, 2014 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics last month, there were 53,847 cases of domestic assaults reported in 2014. It is indeed a frightening number of people who have been subjected to assault.

Women made up the majority with 38,617 victims and men a staggering 15,230 victims of domestic violence. Despite mythology, the majority of men who experience domestic violence are victims of women, and 46% of those surveyed experience fear around that abuse.

I find this staggering not by comparison, but by the fact that we provide absolutely no funded male support services for victims and yet dedicated $100m to women's services this year alone.

Let's not forget that of those 53,847 cases of domestic violence last year, a vast number of children may have witnessed or experienced violence first-hand.

Myth: Domestic violence is about power and control

Being a victim of childhood abuse predisposes people to two things. Firstly according to the research cited above, a predisposition to becoming a perpetrator. Secondly, a victim has a predisposition to being involved in ongoing dysfunctional and abusive relationships. Certainly, not all who are abused go on to perpetrate abuse, but many do become like moths to a flame in engaging in abusive relationships.

The belief that violence is about power and control is somewhat misguided. For perpetrators who were once child victims themselves it is about an irreconcilable breach of trust forcing them to create controllable outcomes for their survival.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission Report stated in its closing implications for prevention:

The study's findings draw attention to the importance of schools as socialising institutions for youth, as well as the importance of parental support - in particular support from a father figure.

It may well be that many respondents in this population have limited exposure to father figures. For those who do have paternal support, however, this appears to be an important influence and strongly protective.

If Australia is to stem the rate of domestic violence into the future, we simply must accept that men and women who have endured childhood trauma are worthy of support and treatment and that every Australian is worthy of protection - including men.