Apr 11, 2010 - CC: Libby Lloyd, Board Member, White Ribbon Foundation. Rosemary Calder, Board Member, White .... Gabriel
Men’s Health Australia
Andrew O'Keefe Chairman White Ribbon Foundation PO Box 20 Killara NSW 2071 CC: Libby Lloyd, Board Member, White Ribbon Foundation
Rosemary Calder, Board Member, White Ribbon Foundation
Leigh Gassner, Board Member, White Ribbon Foundation
Charles Curran, Board Member, White Ribbon Foundation
P.O. Box 1292 Bondi Junction NSW 1355 T 0403 813 925 E
[email protected] W www.menshealthaustralia.net
4 November 2010 An open letter regarding serious statistical errors by the White Ribbon Foundation Dear Mr O’Keefe, I write on behalf of Men's Health Australia, a non-government alliance committed to the betterment of the health of men and boys in our communities, and eighteen other concerned individuals and organisations. I met yourself and Libby Lloyd at one of the Sydney consultations in May 2008 as part of the listening tour prior to the development of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children. You might remember I said to you at the time that we at Men’s Health Australia are fully supportive of all efforts to reduce violence against women. We believe that violence is an important issue impacting upon the health and wellbeing of the general public, and that every effort should be made to reduce its incidence and impact upon men, women and children alike. We take a “social determinants” view of violence as a public health issue, and believe that much can be done to reduce violence by targeting the social factors that sustain it. Naturally we believe that such efforts must be based upon accurate representations of the best data available to us. I am sure that you will agree that this is vital, and when using statistics it is particularly important to ensure such accuracy. As such I and my co-signatories would like to draw your attention to what appear to be a number of serious statistical errors and unreferenced claims contained in the document “What about the men? White Ribbon, men and violence” sent by the White Ribbon Campaign recently to its ambassadors (copy attached). We are concerned that these significant errors could have led the White Ribbon ambassadors, and through them the general public, to arrive at some incorrect conclusions about domestic violence in Australia. Error: “In contrast to men’s experience of violence, male violence against women generally takes place within family and other relationships” Correction: Australian men and women were equally likely to be physically assaulted by persons known to them during the last 12 months (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, page 30). Error: “There has yet to be any work done on the impact of violence on men’s overall health, i.e. its contribution to the burden of disease. We, therefore, don’t yet know the impact of men’s violence against men from a public health point of view.” Correction: The contribution of violence to the burden of disease in both men and women has been studied for many years. The most recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that homicide and violence contributed 6,535 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in male victims, and 2,686 DALYs in female victims (Begg et al 2007, page 222).
1 of 4
Error: “[violence against women] is internationally recognised as a significant social problem worldwide and in Australia – with one in three women experiencing violence in her lifetime.” Correction: Violence is internationally recognised as a significant social problem worldwide and in Australia – with two in five women, and one in two men experiencing violence in their lifetimes (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, page 17). Error: “Canadian research tells us that women are three times more likely to be injured, five more times likely to be hospitalised and five times more likely to report fearing for their lives as a result of [intimate partner] violence” Correction: These statistics are taken from an out-of-date Canadian survey (Statistics Canada 2003). The latest edition of this survey, “Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile” (Statistics Canada 2009), found that “major assault was more common among male victims of spousal violence than among female victims, with 23% and 13%, respectively... One possible reason for this difference may be that male victims of spousal violence were more likely to have had a weapon used against them (15% of male victims versus 5% of female victims)” (page 26). Error: “What makes Violence against Women different?… Violence against women is most often sustained, based on maintaining power and control and contextualised by psychological and emotional abuse.” Correction: The recent Australian Intimate Partner Abuse of Men study found that all these characteristics applied equally to male victims (Tilbrook et al 2010). Error: “Intimate Partner Violence is the leading contributor to death and disability among women aged 15 to 44.” Correction: Intimate partner violence is the leading contributor to death, disability and illness in Victorian women aged 15–44. The omission of the word illness here is critical. The source study found that deaths from intimate partner violence (femicide and suicide) made up 2.3% and 12.9% of the disease burden respectively; physical injuries just 0.7%; substance abuse (tobacco, alcohol and drug use) 10.2%; sexually transmitted infections and cervical cancer 2.2%; and poor mental health (depression, anxiety and eating disorders) 71.8% (Vos et al 2006, page 742). i.e. The vast majority of the contribution to the burden of disease in young Victorian women from intimate partner violence is from illness. Error: “There is no evidence that male victims are more likely to under-report [domestic violence] than female victims” Correction: The large-scale South Australian Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Survey found that “females (22.0%) were more likely to report the [domestic violence] incident(s) to the police than males (7.5%)” (Dal Grande et al 2001, page 10). Likewise “The 2004 [Canadian] General Social Survey (GSS) on victimisation found that fewer than 3 in 10 (28%) victims of spousal violence reported the abuse to the police (36% of female victims and 17% of male victims)” (Statistics Canada 2009, page 24). Also, the 2008-09 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: Partner Abuse found that “Men were significantly more likely not to have told anyone about the abuse they suffered in the last 12 months (40% compared with 21% of women)” and “Around one in five (21%) who experienced partner abuse in the last 12 months said the police did come to know about the most recent / only incident. Again, this figure was significantly higher among women (35% compared with eight per cent of men)” (Macleod et al 2009, pages 29-30).
2 of 4
In addition to the errors listed above, we are concerned that the following claims in the document are unreferenced. The document suggests that “all statistics are drawn from the ABS Personal Safety Survey 2005, unless noted otherwise,” but none of them appear to be contained in the Survey. “This type of violence [violence against women] has its roots in the inequalities of power and control related to our gender roles” “The common cause of men’s violence against both men and women is in the way we currently express masculinity – rigid masculine norms promote and excuse aggression and this has the potential to damage and limit both young men and women.” “Because this violence [violence in the home] is part of a pattern of abuse, it can leave some women and girls vulnerable to re-victimisation.” We are aware that these errors and unreferenced claims may be merely oversights, and as such we seek clarification on the issue (citing references where possible), and/or a written correction of any errors either via email to the White Ribbon ambassadors, or on the White Ribbon Day website. Would you be so kind as to also provide us with the name of the author of the White Ribbon document in question? It is accepted academic practice to cite the authorship of works such as these. Once again I want to emphasise that we are fully supportive of all attempts to reduce violence against women. However it is essential that a high-profile organisation such as the White Ribbon Foundation provides its ambassadors and the general public with an accurate picture of violence in Australian society. It is only when we start with an accurate picture of violence that we can take the necessary steps to reduce its incidence and impact. If we start with an inaccurate picture, our violence-prevention strategies are bound to be less effective. It isn’t necessary for the White Ribbon Foundation to report incorrectly about male victims of violence in order to highlight the tragedy of female victims of violence. The horrific statistics about violence against women speak for themselves. Thank you for your consideration on this issue and we look forward to your timely response. Yours sincerely,
Greg Andresen, Research and Media Liaison, Men’s Health Australia, Bondi Junction NSW Joel Edson, Occupational Therapist, Barmera SA Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami USA Sonja Hastings, Articles About Men, Mascot NSW Ken Henderson, Community Worker, Katoomba NSW Kylie Innocente, BOccThpy, MSc., Occupational Therapist (Youth Mental Health), Coogee NSW Toni McLean, Domestic Violence Counsellor and Ph.D. researcher in Domestic Violence, Mittagong NSW John McPherson, Registrar, Australian Institute of Family Counselling, Gungahlin ACT Greg Millan, Director, Men’s Health Services, Waratah NSW Paul Mischefski, Executive Member, Men's Wellbeing Inc; Senior Journalist and Researcher, Robina QLD One in Three Campaign, Coogee NSW Gabriel Owen, Ovingham SA Ash Patil, Fathers4Equality, Bexley South NSW Sue Price, Director, Men’s Rights Agency, Waterford QLD RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting), USA Richard Hillman Foundation, Adelaide SA Peter Van de Voorde, Presenter, Dads on the Air, Telegraph Point NSW Angela Wilkins, Morayfield QLD Micheal Woods, Adjunct Fellow, University of Western Sydney, Richmond NSW 3 of 4
References: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006). Personal Safety Survey Australia: 2005 Reissue 4906.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. (Original work published August 10, 2006) Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/
[email protected]/DetailsPage/4906.02005 (Reissue)?OpenDocument Begg, S., Vos, T., Barker, B., Stevenson, C., Stanley, L., & Lopez, A. D. (2007). The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10317 Dal Grande, E., Woollacott, T., Taylor, A., Starr, G., Anastassiadis, K., Ben-Tovim, D., et al. (2001). Interpersonal violence and abuse survey, september 1999 . Adelaide: Epidemiology Branch, Dept. of Human Services. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.health.sa.gov.au/pros/portals/0/interpersonal-violencesurvey.pdf MacLeod, P., Kinver, A., Page, L., & Iliasov, A. (2009, December). 2008-09 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: Partner Abuse. Edinburgh: The Scottish Government. Retrieved January 15, 2010, from http:// www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/296149/0092065.pdf Statistics Canada (2003). Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2003. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Ministry of Industry. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http:// www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-224-x/85-224-x2003000-eng.pdf Statistics Canada (2009, October). Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2009. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Ministry of Industry. Retrieved August 29, 2010, from http:// www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-224-x/85-224-x2009000-eng.pdf Tilbrook, E., Allan, A., & Dear, G. (2010, May 26). Intimate partner abuse of men. East Perth: Men's Advisory Network. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.man.org.au/Portals/0/docs/Intimate%20Partner%20Abuse %20of%20Men%20Report.pdf Vos, T., Astbury, J., Piers, L. S., Magnus, A., Heenan, M., Stanley, L., et al. (2006). Measuring the impact of intimate partner violence on the health of women in Victoria, Australia. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84(9), 739-44. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/84/9/06-030411ab/ en/index.html
4 of 4
