Sir, - I was extremely alarmed to read Joan Cronin's response (January 4th) to John Waters's Opinion column in which he stated that "domestic violence is a social not a gender issue."
Being involved in AMEN - Ireland's first support service for male victims of domestic violence - I can fully appreciate Mr Waters's statement.
Since its inception approximately a year ago, AMEN has received calls from over 3,000 men who were being abused by their intimate female partners. This abuse ranges from kicking, punching, stabbing to denying any adequate parenting role to their children.
I feel Ms Cronin missed the valid point John Waters made. I, like Ms Cronin, have worked as a medical social worker. Perhaps the reason more women present to our casualty departments with bruising, broken teeth and choke marks than men, is our collective failure to accept that men can be victims of violence in the home. We are not providing a safe, non-sexist environment for men to come forward with their proof of female aggression.
Please, Ms Cronin, open your mind to the harsh reality that violence in the home is being perpetrated by women as well as men. If we had closed our mind 25 years ago, where would Women's Aid be today? This is a gender issue only in the sense that men and women must work together to find adequate solutions to the problem of domestic violence, from which men and women suffer. - Yours, etc., Fran Willix,
Liffeyview, Leixlip, Co Kildare.