Monday, November 10, 1997
Letters
Consider all facts for both sides
Rachel Munoz’s article on verbal abuse (Nov. 5) is naively
gender-biased. She starts by stating that it is "believed" that
most verbal abuse is imposed by men on women. Then, based on this
"belief," her entire article depicts the male as the perpetrator.
Her assumption not only ignores data showing an equal percentage of
abuse in same-sex as heterosexual relationships, but it also lacks
statistical basis and is contrary to reality.
Munoz does cite data that one in four women admits to being
verbally abused by men. But she conveniently leaves out any
statistic for males. Then she says "the numbers might be a lot
higher because many women never discuss verbal abuse." How much
more is this true for men? It is well-documented (not just
"believed") that men are far less likely to report emotional
problems. For instance, the discrepancy between the rates for
suicide (three-fourths of whom are males) and attempted suicides
(which is more gender balanced) is due to male reluctance to report
failed suicides. Likewise, verbal abuse statistics would increase
dramatically for men if they discussed it as often as women.
Such statistics are available but often-ignored. If Munoz
researched men’s rights advocates like Warren Farrel or Ellis Cose,
she would then learn about statistics like adult homeless rates (90
percent male), job-related injuries (two-thirds male), dropouts,
incarcerations, and yes, battered/abused men. And you, Daily Bruin,
ought to scrutinize your staff’s gender bigotry before publishing
their articles.
Marc Etienne Angelucci
First-year
Law student