Talk:Spousal abuse

message: Whoever wrote this article needs to cite more, break the article down into sections, and talk about "the other side" of the story.  Obviously any time one talks about any sort of abuse the mental and physical anguish of any person who might have experienced it is added to the article.  Any time the world "radical" is associated with an ideology, its "radicalism" is in the eye of the beholder.  At risk of taking a "holier than thou" appearance, I'd like to say that I completely agree with whoever wrote the article, but that it is written more as a persuasion piece than as a factual encyclopedic entry.  In order to be more factual I recommend the following:
Tabulation of abuse percentages
Comparison of the types of abuse and how they differ between men and women
factual support for anything stated in the article.
eg.
"a woman is more likely to physically batter their partner, while a man is more likely to sexually force their partner while using weapons."
should be replaced with something like:
"____ study showed that a woman is __% likely to mutilate the genetalia of their partner, while a man is __% more likely to kill their partner, according to XXX source, but it was slightly contradicted by ____ study which showed the percentages to be ___ and ___, respectively."
(the previous statments were completely made up and should not be taken as factual in the slightest)
Wikipedia should be treated as a place to inform, not a place to tout one's own political beliefs.  Even if you believe that the opposite of what someone posts might in fact be the case, please do research and cite RELIABLE sources before contradicting them.
Samuel Clemens said: 
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just aint so."
Jgreeter 06:16, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  nother opinion 

message: There is no mention of this anywhere in the entire article, even though this is a major form of abuse (perhaps even more common than all the other forms). Plus it is an often overlooked way in which males get abused, because (in my opinion) males tend to be the more physical creatures while females are more inclinded to use the tongue (yes, I know. Generalisations, but generalisations which I believe hold true asa  generalisation). So while females may indeed come worse of in physical encounters that is not always so in the battle of the tongues. Mathmo 11:45, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: mental/emotional abuse

message: Is it true that Islam encourages spousal abuse to occur (i.e. men beating women)? Are men supposed to be abusive towards women in Islam? --Fantastic4boy 06:47, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Islam

message: I don't think I've ever seen an article as blatantly in violation of NPOV as this one. I don't have the expertise to fix it, but I hope someone else does. As it is, there is only one very radical view represented here. Isn't any article that uses the words "radical feminist agenda" probably suspect? Aesshen 02:27, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think you've done an adequate job of expressing what content, specifically, you see in this article as being in violation of NPOV.  Radical feminism is a recognizable social phenomenon with a specific ideology, as the article states. Mentioning its existence, in and of itself, is not suspect.  I don't necessarily disagree with you, but if you're going to place the template, you should be more specific.  Joie de Vivre 16:17, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Okay, I'll break down how biased this article is for you. 
I. " It should be pointed out that a misunderstanding of the family abuse issue is so pervasive, male verses female, or the focus on violence statistics only, that city and county governments, the courts, law enforcement, prosecutorÌs offices, mental health clinics, and other tax supported agencies[2] are now funding programs based on gender politics, rather than responsible scientific studies" 
1. No references on either the opinion that finances towards support of spousal abuse hinge on a "misunderstanding", or that this "misunderstanding" in turn has led to support based on "gender politics, rather than reasonable scientific studies." The connotations with these statements underly a strong, non-neutral opinion that is not backed up by sources. Thus, a NPOV. 
II. "Very few studies have shown men to aggress more frequently than women. However, until recently the bulk of domestic violence research did not even ask about women-on-man violence. It has also been found that many kinds of behavior, such as pushing and slapping, are experienced by both genders, but are mainly called "violence" by female victims. Early studies that merely asked "have you been a victim of domestic violence" did find far lower levels of male victims; but when they asked about specific behaviors ("have you been slapped, punched,...), the numbers evened out."
No citation on the "very few studies...". No citation on the "until recently the bulk of...". No citation on the "It has also been found that...". No citation on "Early studies that merely...". The usage of the word "merely" expresses an opinion. No citation on the last sentence, finishing with "the numbers evened out." Again, completely NPOV.
III. "Justice Department studies show that men are 32 percent less likely than women to report any form of violent victimization."
Uncited, again. 
IV. "Women who kill their husbands were acquitted in 12.9 percent of the cases, while husbands who kill their wives were acquitted only 1.4 percent of the time. In addition, women convicted of killing their husbands receive an average sentence of only six years, while male spousal killers got 17 years, according to an LA Times article citing Department of Justice data."
This passage is an attempt at backing up an argument, but it has little to do with general information on spousal abuse. Also, it too is uncited. 
Some general comments...
1. Usage of words like "tragically" and "merely" inherently imply a bias in the context each is used in. 
2. The article itself doesn't address what spousal abuse is, which is why I came to this page to begin with. It's an argument on the blurred definition of spousal abuse, and also an anti-feminist piece on gender-bias towards women in reports on spousal abuse. Some good points are made, but they are made as the CENTRAL piece of an article that should be written about spousal abuse as opposed to bias. I'd rather see this argument summed up in one or two lines and as apart of a much larger article that includes the history of spousal abuse, legally what it is, psychologically what academics point to, etc., etc. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 137.82.118.61 (talk) 00:48, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: POV template

message: I removed this statement from the article.  That would be parental abuse, not spousal abuse.  The fact that someone happens to be a spouse doesn't make and any all abuse they might suffer spousal abuse.GideonF 15:44, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Spouses can also be abused by their children

message: Although my personal experience makes me biased in regards to the subject of spousal abuse, I was quite taken aback at the unsupported claims of "some women's" motivation to get police assistance.  
In an attempt to overthrow the standard image of spousal abuse of a man injuring a woman, this entry has gone so far as to re-enter the territory of bias (to say the least) against women.  It is in fact, the worst entry I have read in Wikipedia, and makes me now hesitate to going to Wiki for other information.
This is my first comment, ever, and possibly my last. Just because you can twist an argument and still have it pass through the guidelines doesn't change the fact that it is a hateful piece of writing..
feminalefilms
A good short documentary about the effects of spousal abuse on one particular woman can be seen on www.current.tv called "Second Chance, Last Call".  The address is http://www.current.tv/watch/21570608?list=newVidsByProducer&filterone=6817916&filtertwo=-1&sid=21570608&fr=0  Markream 01:45, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question:  What is "minor" abuse?