“Female violence is trivialized”

“Well, yes, the woman’s weapons.” A reader of Tagesanzeiger.ch was fobbed off by the police with this succinct comment when he filed a report of sexual assault against his ex-wife. Other readers also describe their experiences, which go as far as being expelled from their shared apartment. Apparently the role model, which fundamentally sees the man as the perpetrator in the event of a conflict in the relationship, is still firmly anchored in many minds.

Michael De Luigi, board member of the Mannschafft.ch association, knows many of the fates of men whose cases have been trivialized by the authorities. “It can go so far that a police officer refuses to file a complaint.” Things get even worse when the woman presents herself as a victim. “In addition to being expelled from the apartment, a ban on contact with their children can be very drastic for the man.”

The police are neutral

Of course, the cantonal police do not accept the accusation of intervening unilaterally in favor of the woman in cases of domestic violence. “If the police become aware of domestic violence, they intervene, regardless of whether the suspects are male or female,” says Marcel Strebel, head of the information department of the Zurich cantonal police. In 2007, men were the victims in around a quarter of the 1,608 registered cases of domestic violence.

Luigi attributes the fact that the violence statistics are one-sided in terms of gender shares not only to the male self-image but also to “the suppression of the problem of domestic violence against men by the police”. The Mannschafft.ch association therefore also criticizes the Zurich Protection Against Violence Act. This is too focused on protecting women and neglects children, young people and men as victims of violence. Instead of the punishment provided for in the law, Mannschafft.ch considers the treatment of disturbed communication in the partnership to be the more sustainable solution.

Many commentators on Tagesanzeiger.ch also doubt that women rarely appear as perpetrators, as is recorded by the police. One of them ventures the thesis that “a significant proportion of men’s physical outbursts […] were preceded by long-term psychological violence on the part of women.” According to Strebel, the motives that led to a crime are too different to be able to derive a trend. “During the course of the investigation and the criminal proceedings, the motives that led to the crime will of course be explored. Ultimately, all files would have to be viewed in order to get a comprehensive picture.

VeV comment

The Tagesanzeiger deserves great praise. Not only for writing this article, but also for responding so promptly to the comments on the previous article.