The debate over men’s versus women’s domestic violence is increasingly prominent, both in academic scholarship and in popular culture. We have always known that both men and women are capable of using violence, and that both men and women are the victims of violence. At the same time, domestic violence has long been understood to be a problem largely of violence by men, against women and children. However, a very different understanding of domestic violence is now increasingly visible. Here, domestic or family violence is seen to be gender-equal or gender-neutral. In this paper, I assess this claim. I will demonstrate that there is no ‘gender symmetry’ in domestic violence, and there are important differences between men’s and women’s typical patterns of victimisation and perpetration.
Please see below for:
- A summary of the seminar published in the CDFReader (Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research);
- The full text of this seminar; and
- The Powerpoint slides which accompanied the seminar.
For the full text of various key academic articles on domestic violence and gender, see here.
Citation: Flood, M. (2012). He Hits, She Hits: Assessing debates regarding men’s and women’s experiences of domestic violence. Seminar, Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, Sydney, December 6.