Even this figure is suspiciously low, because few husbands report the crime. This information should not be taken to minimize the amount or seriousness of wife-battering. It is an indication, however, that there is also a significant number of battered husbands who deserve the same sympathy and understanding that abused wives deserve. Battered husbands are not helped by journalists like Lopez who write about domestic violence while apparently remaining entirely ignorant of their existence. The cycle of violence will only be broken when it is recognized that the roles of batterers and victims cross the lines of gender.
Women can be abusers and men victims almost as often as the reverse.
The battered wife can expect some help from many police departments and social agencies. Because of the accepted sexist stereotyping of males as violent brutes, the battered husband can expect only ridicule and disbelief if he reports the crime. While numerous battered women's shelters have been funded, none for battered men exists to my knowledge. Still others have been programmed to believe that it is immoral for a man to fight back when abused by a woman. Some men are so emotionally dependent upon their wives that they fear any show of resistance to them.