Sir, - In his Opinion column "Prejudice is right on if men are the victims" (January 12th) John Waters tells us that his "one public hope for 1999 is that men finally start to stand up for themselves". He goes on to tell us that "domestic violence is a social not a gender issue".
Having worked for many years as a senior social worker in the accident and emergency department of a large Dublin hospital, I have seen women with bodies burned with cigarette ends, black-eyed, their teeth broken, with choke marks and often near death's door because of assaults from these intimate partners. Yet Mr Waters tells me that this is not a gender issue? John Waters needs a strong dose of reality therapy.
If I can have one public hope for 1999 it is that The Irish Times abstain from publishing such diatribes and that Mr Waters will reflect and maybe visit an accident and emergency waiting-room any morning, afternoon, or evening.-Yours, etc., Joan Cronin,
Leadington, Lisgoold, Co Cork.