Here's an article I found from a Detroit newspaper from 97:
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Sunday, April 20, 1997
The Detroit News
No place to run for male victims of domestic abuse: Shelters, support groups rare for men
By Becky Beaupre / The Detroit News
The attacker's temper flared and keys flew, pitched forward in a fit of rage.
They slammed against Richard Daniska's chest, smack against a stapled incision left by his heart surgeon two weeks earlier.
His attacker tried to keep him from leaving, but Daniska -- who had been recuperating from open heart surgery on the couch -- made it to a nearby medical center for X-rays.
Then, just as he had in the past, he called the St. Clair Shores police and filed an assault report.
Against his wife.
"It got to the point where -- and this might sound silly -- I went to bed at night with a little children's baseball bat on the nightstand," Daniska said in soft, even tones. "I was really afraid to go to sleep."
In 1995, there were about 7,000 reports of Michigan men like Daniska who were physically abused by their wives, girlfriends or unmarried partners. But there are virtually no programs, shelters or support groups aimed at helping them.
Some women's groups say that's because battered men make up only 5 percent to 10 percent of domestic violence victims. But an analysis of crime data collected by the Michigan State Police shows that men were victims in nearly 20 percent of all domestic abuse cases reported in 1995 in Michigan.
<Keeping in mind that men might be less inclined to report abuse against them, the figures can be signigicantly higher, perhaps double of what is actually reported.> Domestic abuse includes homicides, sexual offenses, assaults and robberies between spouses, ex-spouses and unmarried partners.
Some contend there's a reason women's groups downplay the issue of battered men: the fear that a widespread movement to help battered men will dilute funding earmarked for battered women.
The state police numbers are not perfect. They are only as accurate as the officers taking the reports and in some cases include estimates necessary to remove child victims from the sample.
But they suggest that domestic violence against men is more prevalent than is sometimes reported.
"There is a general unwillingness to accept that this is a problem," said Mel Feit, executive director of the National Center for Men in New York, which receives about 150 calls a year from men who say they are abused. "Usually, a man who is a victim will try to report it only once. He calls the shelter and they say, 'What did you do to provoke her?' They reach out for help and are abused again by the system."
The Detroit News
Few safe havens
When Daniska finally decided to leave home, nearly every shelter he called turned him away. He spent one night at the Salvation Army, but they wouldn't let him stay longer.
"There was absolutely nothing out there for me," said Daniska, 46, a longtime Macomb County resident. "The shelters said they only serve women."
Finally, Daniska took a job caring for an elderly man in exchange for room and board. He also divorced his wife of 18 years.
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Another interesting article is at: http://www.vix.com/pub/menmag/detbatm3.htm
Abuse is a two way street! Let's all work together to stop it!
Peter Stride
Toronto, Canada
