Men don't tell

Trudy W. Schuett: a href=”http://cliffviewpilot.com/beyond/998-the-silent-victims-battered-husbands”The silent victims: Battered husbands:/abr /br /blockquoteIf there’s anything I’ve learned in 10 years of advocacy for unserved victims of partner abuse, it’s that men don’t tell.br /br /Yes, the U.S. Dept. of Justice says there about 840,00 male victims of domestic violence each year. But those are just the ones who’ve reported it.br /br /Not that the numbers really matter: What matters is that it’s happening, and it’s no joke. /blockquotebr /br /Trudy gives good advice to men in this column, like the following:br /br /blockquoteDo not phone police unless you are in immediate danger, and your life is at risk. Law enforcement professionals nationwide have been trained to presume the man is always the perpetrator. There have been many cases where a man has been arrested, even while his wife is in the process of assaulting him and/or a police officer. Don’t add this extra risk unless you absolutely cannot avoid it;/blockquotebr /br /This is sad, but probably true. What we need is more education of law enforcement, but how will that happen if no one believes that men are at risk?br /br /I was recently talking to a woman I know who said she used to work at a Home Depot. “There was a co-worker there, a guy in his late fifties who always came in all beat up. We all thought he was just a drunk. It turned out that his wife was beating him. One day, he ended up in the hospital but we heard he went home and his wife was ‘taking care of him.’ We kind of wondered what happened to him.”br /br /Like many silent victims, probably no one will ever know.