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City, county officials rally to end domestic violence
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by Becky Vevea
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Madison and Dane County officials marched with community members around Capitol Square Monday afternoon to advocate for ending domestic violence.
The Purple Ribbon Walk comes after a murder-suicide on Madison’s west side Saturday.
Salvador Tellez-Giron, 66, hung himself after he beat his wife, Viviana Tellez-Giron, 33, to death, according to the Dane County Coroner’s office.
Participants of the walk carried signs with “Eliminate Violence Against Women” on the front and a name on the back of someone who was the victim of a domestic violence homicide.
Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said the Madison Police Department has seen a number of stranger homicides but investigates several cases involving domestic violence each day.
“What we cannot lose sight of, which is something that happens all too often, are those times when the victim does know the perpetrator,” Wray said.
Shannon Barry, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services executive director, spoke about the services DAIS offers and the shortage of resources they have to work with.
“We offer the only domestic violence shelter for Dane County,” Barry said. “We have 25 beds for women and children. When one considers that approximately one third of all arrests in Dane County are domestic violence related, it’s pretty apparent that 25 beds is sometimes not enough to meet the need.”
Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney said Wisconsin averages more than three domestic violence related homicides each month, and more than 15 percent of the bookings into the Dane County jail in 2007 were related to domestic violence.
Wray said two out of seven homicides in Madison this year involved domestic violence, and the community should focus on the larger picture of identifying and ending the behavior.
“At times, it feels like our community is managing this issue,” Wray said. “Our goal and our focus should be not to manage this but end it.”
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said her 2009 budget includes funding for an additional caseworker at DAIS.
Currently, DAIS has 18 salaried positions and 28 paid hourly workers, Barry said, and they have to be creative with the limited resources they have. DAIS also relies heavily on the more than 100 volunteers the group has, she added.
“Frankly, without our volunteers, we couldn’t do this work,” Barry said. “The volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization.”
Wisconsin has alarming numbers of reported cases of domestic abuse, Falk said, and this number is not an accurate representation of the frequency of domestic abuse because many cases are unreported.
“Think of the number that aren’t reported because women are afraid to do that,” Falk said. “We have this nature, this conspiracy of silence, unless we all speak for those who can’t speak for themselves.”
Domestic Abuse Intervention Services and Zonta, an international organization committed to advancing women worldwide, hosted the walk.
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard stressed the community’s role in ending domestic violence by helping “victims in big ways and small.”
“As a community, when do we start acting?” Blanchard said. “You know the answer. We have to stop it now.”
Blanchard said medical professionals must remember to ask the right questions and employers should give victims time off to seek the necessary help outside of their home.
“We should support [victims] in the choices they make.” Blanchard said. “We have to stop providing excuses for [abusers].”
Anonymous (October 7, 2008 @ 8:02am):
I noticed that there is not one mention in this article that men can be recipients of verbal, emotional, psychological, financial, and physical abuse by their intimate partners also. If we are truly working to end domestic violence shouldn't we stop ignoring male victims in heterosexual and same sex relationships? Over 2000 domestic violence programs in this country and only a handful offer direct services to men and/or adolescent boys (with their mother or father)
Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women
Crisis: 888-7HELPLINE
www.dahmw.org
Anonymous (October 7, 2008 @ 1:20pm):
Nothing like a march to stop violence!
Anonymous (October 7, 2008 @ 7:08pm):
to 8:02:
most of the domestic abuse in relationships is men battering women. most statistics depicting an equivalence in battering to women from men and to men from women have been widely contested. they discount the fact that most women are so much more affected emotionally and physically than men. men are more likely to overreport abuse from women whereas women are more likely to underreport abuse from men. most abuse made by women is based on self-defense and you can not discount the fact that men are so much stronger and powerful.
the problem with trying to promote domestic abuse towards males is it overlooks some of the key concepts of domestic abuse itself. domestic abuse is based on power and control, and women are pretty much always the recipients of this abuse because of the standards we have in our society. our society promotes male dominance and violence and therefore it is almost acceptable for men to put women down. ending domestic violence has nothing to do with recognizing that VERY few males are victims in domestic violence, it has more to do with recognizing the messages our culture sends out saying that it is okay for men to abuse women.
trying to promote more services towards abused men just takes away much needed resources that belong with the real victims, women.
Anonymous (October 8, 2008 @ 10:57am):
I can speak from personal experience that violence committed by women against men is treated very differently than violence committed against by men against women. When I accurately reported to my children's guardian ad litem that I had been subjected to physical abuse by the children's mother, his only response was, "What did you do to make her hit you?" Would he have had the same response had I been female reporting getting hit and slapped by her children's father? I highly doubt it. Violence is deplorable regardless of who commits it and it is our responsibility to support the victims and punish the victimizers regardless of their gender. We cannot afford to turn our backs on a whole population of victims simply because their gender does not fit our own biases and stereotypes. I think that there would be nothing more sad for the day to come when the "Violence Against Women" groups are finally successful in eradicating violence against women while allowing violence against men to continue to grow unchecked. It'd sort of be like curing polio in girls but not boys. Violence is a disease and we need to wipe it out without having to ask whether the victim was male or female.
Steve Blake (October 8, 2008 @ 12:03pm):
A recent anonymous poster (10-7 @ 7:08) makes a number of inaccurate statements concerning who perpetrates domestic violence and why. It is not surprising that the post is anonymous since he/she fails to give any references for the so-called facts presented. Actually, they are factoids routinely trotted out by people who either do not understand the real issues or who have a vested interest in perpetrating the myth that women are always victims and men are always perpetrators. I would like to present the findings of various studies and reports which I am not afraid to reference.
"most statistics depicting an equivalence in battering to women from men and to men from women have been widely contested."
Well over 200 studies have shown that women are at least as likely as men to engage in partner violence. Source-Fiebert M. References Examining Assaults by Women
on their Spouses or Male Partners: An Annotated Bibliography. California State University, 2006.
Are all these studies in dispute? Contested by whom?
"men are more likely to overreport abuse from women whereas women are more likely to underreport abuse from men"
According to the National Family Violence Survey, female victims of DV are nine times more likely to call the police than male DV victims.
"most abuse made by women is based on self-defense…"
Less than one in five cases of female perpetrated violence involve the woman acting
in self-defense. Sources-Follingstad D, Wright S, Lloyd S, and Sebastian J. Sex
differences in motivations and effects in dating relationships. Family Relations, Vol. 40, 1991, pp. 51–57.
Carrado M, George MJ, Loxam E, et al. Aggression in British heterosexual relationships: A descriptive analysis.
Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 22, pp. 401–415.
A recent Centers for Disease Control survey
found that in cases of one-way partner
aggression, women were the instigators in 71%
of the time. Source-Whitaker DJ, Haileyesus T, Swahn M, Saltzman L. Differences in frequency of violence and reported injury
between relationships with reciprocal and nonreciprocal intimate partner violence. American Journal of Public
Health, May 2007.
"domestic abuse is based on power and control"
Domestic violence is caused by a number of factors including anger, stress, alcohol abuse, and sometimes a desire to control. Source-Straus MA. Gender symmetry in partner violence. In
Lutzker JR, Whitaker DJ (eds.): Prevention of Partner Violence. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association, 2008.
and women are as likely as men to engage in domestic violence out of a need to control their partner. Source-Stets JE, Hammons SA. Gender, control, and marital
commitment. Journal of Family Issues Vol. 23, 2002.
"…it has more to do with recognizing the messages our culture sends out saying that it is okay for men to abuse women."
In the United States, only 10% of persons approve of a husband who slaps his wife – while 22% approve of a wife slapping her husband. The recent International Dating Violence Study found much greater acceptance of female-perpetrated than male perpetrated minor violence by women in all but one of 32 countries. Source-Douglas EM, Straus MA. Assault and injury of dating partners by university students in 19 countries. European
Journal of Criminology, Vol. 3, pp. 293-318. 2006.
Until we all acknowledge that domestic violence is a human problem and not a gender problem we will not be able to devise effective strategies to find a solution. Strategies that should be based on sound research and best practices, not on half truths and ideology.
Steve Blake
Wisconsin Fathers for Children and Families
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