CATHY YOUNG: Duke accuser’s murder arrest shows domestic violence isn’t one-way.

The tragic latest chapter in Mangum’s story has two particularly ironic aspects. First, this reminder of the Duke rape hoax comes just as the Obama administration is leading a push for a more aggressive pursuit of sexual assault charges on college campuses, including policy changes that would strip important protections from the accused. . . .

No less striking, while the Duke case sparked intense debates on feminism and rape, the new charges against Mangum spotlight another major feminist controversy: gender and domestic violence. While advocates often portray domestic abuse as a male “war against women” — an assumption reflected in the federal Violence Against Women Act championed by now-Vice President Joe Biden in the 1990s — many such assaults have female perpetrators and male victims. In particular, FBI statistics from recent years show that about 20 percent of victims of murder by spouses or partners are male.

Many feminists claim that women regarded as domestic abusers are usually victims fighting back (a claim some of Mangum’s supporters are already making). Yet the handling of Mangum’s previous domestic violence case lends more credence to the assertions of men’s rights activists that domestic assaults by women tend to be treated with extra leniency.

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