The high number of male victims in those cases reflects the habits of female abusers, who tend to use weapons or throw objects, rather than use their fists or commit sexual assault. Battered women's shelters say the domestic assault reports filed by men often don't reflect that many women charged with abusing their mates were acting in self-defense. Most Metro Detroit shelters are officially open to both genders, but they acknowledge they have difficulty believing men as readily as they believe women. In some cases, the literature distributed by domestic violence shelters seems to ignore battered men completely. The problem is actually spouse abuse.
Women are just as violent as men.
But counselors and prosecutors say their views have been shaped by years of dealing with batterers and abusers. For one thing, most shelters have encountered few male victims and have counseled a small number of female batterers. The relative size and strength of men also make it hard for many to believe that more than a tiny fraction of men are true victims, counselors say. We don't hear that from men. They are not living in fear.