Why are the men who commit violence against women invisible?

So I was thinking about women and violence against women.  And I was thinking about the media and how the media reports crimes against women, and it occurred to me that when you think about crimes and violence against women it is not women who are the perpetrators (usually) but men who are the people committing violence against women. So why are the men who commit violence against women invisible?

But what do the headlines say?  What do the websites say?  The headlines read:

Violence against women is on the rise.”; “Global and regional estimates of violence against women”; “Ending Violence against women”; “Hate crimes against women”

etc, etc, etc …..

So who is committing all of this violence and crime?

Men. Men commit the crimes against women.  Men commit the violence against women. 


Okay, so before you start whining about how women kill each other, and women hurt each other, and every other thing you can throw at me, Yes, you are right.  Women do assault each other.  We have all heard about “cat fights”.  We know women kill each other, and are generally awful to each other a lot of the time.  But when you look at statistics about violence against women and who is doing it, the answer 8 times out of 10 is: MEN!

Just because I like statistics:



The Campus Sexual Assault Study estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years (National Institute of Justice 2007). I would argue this number is higher now than in 2007


batered women

So now that you have seen some numbers and statistics, lets reshape the way the headlines SHOULD read.

“The amount of violence men are committing against women is on the rise”; “Global and regional estimates of men committing violence against women.”; “Ending male violence against women”; “Hate crimes men commit against women”.

The media says things like:  “the Columbine shooters:, “the Newtown shooter”; “Kids killing kids”; “the alleged shooter”.  They are called psychopath, or shooter, or murderer, or killer, or maniac….which are all genderless names.

Then the media has experts come on who talk about mental illness, or violence in video games, or gangs, or dysfunctional homes, or many other reasons why this violence is happening.  Hmmmmm, I am pretty sure that girls and women also deal with mental illness, and dysfunctional families, and play violent video games, and are exposed to violence in society, and are in gangs.  So why are the people committing the violence disproportionately men.  And why don’t we call them out for it?  Why are the perpetrators in visible, and the the headlines genderless, unless of course you are mentioning the gender of the victims.  Let’s mention the gender of the people doing the raping and the killing.

Because the lives of women are important.  The lives of women matter.  Women’s stories need to be told.  #womenslives