This is an updated version of my initial comment, hopefully more polite and fact-based.
I would agree with Question Mark that it is worth exploring opportunities to reduce violence against men, in addition to what the present post does for violence against women. Like Question Mark writes, the scale of this problem is large. Presumably, males experience violence more often than females, albeit for different reasons.
That said, I think the comparisons put forward by Question Mark are creating a biased impression. Here are a few points to keep in mind for a balanced picture:
Keeping the focus on intimate partner violence rather than general violence also makes interventions more tractable. General violence / homicide are broad topics with complex reasons for why men are more affected, including reasons that have to do with male behavior.
Question Mark’s comment also compares female genital mutilation (FGM) with male circumcision. My impression was that the comment considered them comparably harmful (but maybe this is just an uncharitable reading of my part; apologies in this case). I believe that there are good reasons to think of FGM as a larger problem, such as:
In one study, women estimated that FGM led to a 3% decrease in life quality, which would amount to roughly one QALY lost due to the intervention.
While male circumcision is more prevalent, we should consider that it is often elective and that it has benefits as well as risks. The negative effects occur for the 1.5-6% of cases where there are complications (Wikipedia: Circumcision). In contrast, the 3% life quality loss due to FGM is an average, not an estimate for cases gone wrong, and not an estimate of only the most severe forms.
With these considerations in mind, I think that interventions focused specifically on violence against girls and women make sense. Girls and women often suffer from particularly gruesome forms of violence, which are also tractable to address, as shown by the interventions in this post.
This is an updated version of my initial comment, hopefully more polite and fact-based.
I would agree with Question Mark that it is worth exploring opportunities to reduce violence against men, in addition to what the present post does for violence against women. Like Question Mark writes, the scale of this problem is large. Presumably, males experience violence more often than females, albeit for different reasons.
That said, I think the comparisons put forward by Question Mark are creating a biased impression. Here are a few points to keep in mind for a balanced picture:
While this post focuses on interventions to prevent intimate partner violence, the homicide statistics by gender look at a different type of violence. This is not an apples-for-apples comparison. If we instead consider sexual violence and intimate partner violence, we find that 90% of (US) adult rape victims are female, and that women are more affected than men in all categories of intimate partner violence.
Keeping the focus on intimate partner violence rather than general violence also makes interventions more tractable. General violence / homicide are broad topics with complex reasons for why men are more affected, including reasons that have to do with male behavior.
Question Mark’s comment also compares female genital mutilation (FGM) with male circumcision. My impression was that the comment considered them comparably harmful (but maybe this is just an uncharitable reading of my part; apologies in this case). I believe that there are good reasons to think of FGM as a larger problem, such as:
Typical forms of FGM have a range of negative effects such as severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths
In one study, women estimated that FGM led to a 3% decrease in life quality, which would amount to roughly one QALY lost due to the intervention.
While male circumcision is more prevalent, we should consider that it is often elective and that it has benefits as well as risks. The negative effects occur for the 1.5-6% of cases where there are complications (Wikipedia: Circumcision). In contrast, the 3% life quality loss due to FGM is an average, not an estimate for cases gone wrong, and not an estimate of only the most severe forms.
With these considerations in mind, I think that interventions focused specifically on violence against girls and women make sense. Girls and women often suffer from particularly gruesome forms of violence, which are also tractable to address, as shown by the interventions in this post.