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In general, I do think that
men who are abused have few
outlets to discuss that abuse
and potential recourse. That
said, I think it's incredibly
complicated — mostly
because while men and women
are both abused, men are more
likely to be the abusers of
both. Also, male "violence" is
known to do more "harm" and
thus it is easier to quantify,
which isn't to say that women's
violence isn't damaging, but
I think in the larger scope
of things it has been less
of a priority.
I think simply
talking about violence and
violent acts also overlooks
the motivation — men
are often violent as an expression
of power or as a reaction against
feeling powerless; whereas
women are often violent exclusively
because they feel powerless
it's their reacting rather
than men's violence which is
a more deliberate action. This
isn't excusing women's violence,
but trying to understand what
is behind it all. And when
you look at childhood abuse
there are patterns — men
who are abused as boys tend
to grow up to be abusers and
girls who are abused as children
tend to grow up to continue
to be abused.
But yes, I think
that female violence hasn't
been dealt with for fear of
what it means. And I do know
that many feminist groups have
been trying to figure out how
to adequately and appropriately
address female violence.
—
Amy
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