Women and children have been battered behind closed doors for centuries, not just decades. Recent efforts to raise awareness have been both warranted and, one hopes, beneficial. At the same time, however, we've created a monster. Men have been falsely accused as women get nasty during divorce and custody disputes. In order to protect the innocent, courts generally give accusers the benefit of the doubt.
Men are guilty, in other words, until proven innocent.
It's a fact of life so often these days that some men are challenging a system they say discriminates against men. In Massachusetts last Tuesday, six divorced men and the Fatherhood Coalition, a father's advocacy group, filed a federal anti-discrimination lawsuit against the judges in Massachusetts state courts. The suit claims the judges routinely violate the U.S. Constitution by handing out restraining orders at the mere suggestion of domestic violence, denying men due process and equal-protection rights. In Massachusetts, restraining orders are issued for a year at a time. That's a long time to be locked out of your life if you're innocent.