SUMMARY
The King County Council has been publishing the following statement in their annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamations: “nearly half of dating college women report experiencing violent or abusive dating relationships”. This is a half-truth. The most straightforward correction they could make, while relying on the same primary source as their existing statistic, would be for them to say: “nearly half of dating college women and over a quarter of dating college men report experiencing violent or abusive dating behaviors.” We are in touch with the King County Council about fixing the gender bias in their proclamations, starting with the one this upcoming October.
Marginalizing young men
The Centers for Disease control states: “Survey data have found that men experience a high prevalence of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking. Most first-time victimizations occur before age 25, with many victims first experiencing violence before age 18.”
King County is Washington’s most populous county with over two million people. The nine-member King County Council is its legislative body.
The King County Council’s most recent proclamations recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month — in 2018, 2019, and 2022 — contained a half-truth that marginalizes young men who are abused by their dating partners. (Our definition of a half-truth is a deceptive statement that omits certain information needed for a proper understanding of an issue.)
Question: Can you tell what information is missing from the following statement that would allow for a proper understanding of the gender dynamics of dating abuse among college students?
“nearly half of dating college women report experiencing violent or abusive dating relationships”
– King County Council proclamations in 2018, 2019, and 2022, sponsored by Councilmember Claudia Balducci, Councilmember Kathy Lambert, and Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, respectively
Answer: What’s missing is the fraction of dating college men who report experiencing violent or abusive dating relationships.
That fraction, according to the same source as the “nearly half of dating college women” statistic, is greater than one-fourth. Specifically, 28% of dating college men reported experiencing violent or abusive dating relationships, according to that source.
(For reliable studies and statistics on abuse in dating relationships among teens and college students, see for example publications out of the University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University, Kansas State University, University of Cambridge, the National Institute of Justice, the CDC (2017), and the CDC (2012).)
See related: EXCLUSIVE: CDC Alters Webpage On Teen Dating Violence to Hide Male Victimization
What is the source for these statistics?
We asked a King County Council staffmember for the source of the “nearly half of dating college women” statistic that has been included in recent Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamations. They provided links to the primary source and also to four secondary sources.
The primary source is a 2011 document that summarizes the findings of a nationally representative survey carried out in 2010 involving 330 female college students and 178 male college students. Liz Claiborne Inc., a women’s clothing company, hired a research firm called Knowledge Networks Inc. to conduct the survey and write a report.
In their report on the survey results, Knowledge Networks included numbers representing both abused men and abused women (see the screenshot below). However, their written statements that summarize the findings call attention exclusively to women who reported experiencing abusive behaviors. They are silent about abused men (notice the statements on pages 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 29, 30, 32, 33, and 34).
Perhaps Liz Claiborne instructed the research firm to focus attention on female victims in their write-up on the survey results. Or maybe Knowledge Networks did so proactively, consistent with their understanding of the priorities of the company that funded the study. The report’s title, however, is “2011 College Dating Violence and Abuse Poll,” which does not give an honest preview to the reader of the gynocentrism (i.e. the emphasis on female victimization) that follows.
The Council’s error regarding young men
The 2011 report commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. — specifically its “43%” statistic shown above — is the source for the “nearly half of dating college women” factoid in the King County Council’s recent proclamations. The fact that 28% of the young men who participated in the survey reported experiencing violent or abusive dating behaviors was downplayed in the original study, and it is consistently omitted when governments and advocacy organizations cite the study’s findings. As evidence of this, all four of the secondary sources the King County Council staffperson provided us links to highlight the 43% statistic and omit the 28% statistic (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4).
A great deal of progress has been made to bring the realities of domestic violence in all its gender configurations into mainstream narratives about domestic violence. However, it is no wonder that some people still view domestic violence as a matter of men mistreating women. It is no wonder that some are blind to the existence of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence.
See: Abuse OF Men BY Women — Our Interview with Author Ann Silvers [Videos]
How the King County Council can improve going forward
In this article we’ve brought to light a textbook example of why politicians, journalists, and advocacy organizations should check their sources for bias before citing them. If a primary source contains half-truths, disseminating those half-truths is irresponsible.
The following statement shows how the King County Council could accurately summarize the findings from the 2011 primary source document, while avoiding marginalizing college men whose girlfriends abuse them:
“nearly half of dating college women and over a quarter of dating college men report experiencing violent or abusive dating behaviors”
Alternately, the King County Council may want to eliminate this factoid altogether from their future proclamations, given that its source is a survey that was carried out 13 years ago.
They’re so close to eliminating the gender bias
Proclamations are typically made up of a series of “whereas” clauses. The clause we’ve analyzed in this article is the one and only clause in the Council’s recent Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamations that contains gender bias.
Here are examples of other clauses in the proclamations that are fully inclusive toward men:
“WHEREAS, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner…”
…and…
“WHEREAS, domestic violence and abusive dating relationships don’t discriminate; abuse can happen to anyone regardless of gender…”
Will they fix it in October 2023?
The King County Council is within inches of issuing a Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamation that is fully inclusive of male victims/survivors. They need only to fix the one clause we’ve pointed out.
A staffperson for one of the councilmembers informed us that the drafting of proclamations is done primarily by the office of the councilmember who is the lead sponsor of the proclamation, which can change from year to year.
We will reach out to our contacts at the King County Council again in the months leading up to October to help nudge them in the right direction. Our goal is for their 2023 Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamation to be fully inclusive toward boys and men.
See related: Why We Need to Reject the Term ‘Gender-Based Violence’ in Washington