text: Susan Rosenthal’s article is very insightful. I agree that women are just as capable of attacking their partners and that domestic violence perpetrated by women is underestimated in our society.
  Of course, dismissive attitudes still exist towards women victims. And women are more likely than men to face domestic violence. According to the ONS 2013/14 report, 8.5 percent of women and 4.5 percent of men had experienced domestic abuse in the previous year.
  Domestic violence is also the major factor in murders of women. Forty six percent of female murder victims in 2013/14 were killed by a partner or ex-partner, compared to 7 percent of male victims.
  Holding men to a “macho” ideal goes hand in hand with encouraging the view that women should defer to the “man in the relationship”. We should take domestic violence against anyone seriously.