I am a bit disappointed. I have seen so many "statistic lies" and so few people who want to find something as solid facts and unbiased interpretations. Everybody just seems to be promoting their own agendas. To be specific, I am disappointed with the majority of men's right web sites and feminist web sites.

For example, men's right activist web sites try to prove that "women are as violent towards their partners as men are".
http://www.goshen.edu/~sethay/res

Most feminist organizations, on the other hand tell the following lie: "31% of women have experienced violence from their partner... and 90% of the victims of domestic violence are women".
http://www.ndvh.org/dvInfo.html#stats

Both of these statements are "statistical lies" that are created by biased definitions and omittance of disturbing counterfacts, to promote a political agenda.

So where is the truth? Below is my collection of pieces of facts that I have found from research reports:

1) Men inflict moderate or severe physical damage to their partners more often than women do. The ratio is about 4 moderately or severely injured women to each injured man.

2) The proportion of women who have suffered this kind of severe violence in their relationship is about 8% and the proportion of men is about 2%.

3) Women and men are almost equally aggressive if non severe and less injurous violence is taken into account (slapping, pushing, throwing with objects, biting, nailscraping, etc.)

4) The proportion of women who have suffered from non severe violence is about 30% and the proportion of men is about 30%.

I am not completely sure these statistics are the truth. However, I would surely be interested in finding the truth - without mixing into political agendas.

Edit: Improved the statistics based on references.

[ 05 May 2005: Message edited by: SosiologiR ]

Below is a further advancement on the statistical study. It is still lacking some detail as the definitions of severe and non severe violence differ from one study to the other.

To specify the topic a bit, I shall divide violence to three levels of severity:

1) Assaults causing severe damage

2) Assault causing moderate damage

3) Violence causing mild injury or no injury at all.

The statistics that I have found reveal the following:

1) The ratio of convicted men and women in the severe assaults is about 7-10 men to each man.

* According to Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice, January, 1994) the ratio is 7-10 women for each man. As this statistic is based on convicts, it could result in some bias, if women are systematically given smaller punishment, or no punishment at all (as proven by other studies).

2) For each moderately or severely injured man there are 4 women.

* Makepeace, J. M. (1986), Gender differences in courtship violence victimization. Family Relations, 35, 383-388. 8% of women and 2% of men have experienced moderate or severe injuries as effect of domestic/interspousal violence. That means a ratio of 4 women for each man. The result was reached in a sample of about 2300 university students. Although it does not represent the entire population, it gives a rough estimate of the ratio between male and female victims. The study could possibly contain a bias that lower the amount of male injuries and raises the amount of female injuries: It has been proven that men tend to view their injuries (such as bruises) as insignificant or mild whereas the same injury, from female point of view, could be considered as moderate or even serious.

3) About 20-40 % of women and 20-40% of men have suffered from violent acts from their partner, if all forms of injurous and non injurous violence are counted together.

* Merlin B. Brinkerhoff and Eugene Lupri, "Interspousal Violence," Canadian Journal of Sociolog", Vol. 13, 1988, pp. 407-34. A random sample of 562 couples in Calgary, Alberta
* Lisa Brush, "Violent Acts and Injurious Outcomes in Married Couples: Methodological Issues in the National Survey of Families and Household," Gender and Society, Vol. 4, March 1990, pp. 56-67.

General sources:

http://www.goshen.edu/~sethay/res
http://www.ndvh.org/dvInfo.html#stats

Edited as improved references were found.

[ 05 May 2005: Message edited by: SosiologiR ]

I would like to hear your comments on these statistics. Do you consider them as

a) feminist propaganda
b) serious attempt to find the "truth"
c) anti-feminist propaganda?

If you consider the statistics reliable, how do you think about the feminist web sites telling that "31% of women have suffered from domestic violence and 90% of the victims of domestic violence are women"?

[ 05 May 2005: Message edited by: SosiologiR ]