Why did Kamala Sarup's article on domestic violence leave male victims invisible? ("Domestic Violence Against Women," 6/1/07.) I'm sure she would say "men and women" when covering soldiers or firefighters. Why not domestic violence victims?

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control shows: "In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner."

Although men underreport more than women in crime data, sociological data shows women initiate domestic violence as often as men, that women use weapons more than men, and that 38% of injured victims are men. California State University Professor Martin Fiebert summarizes almost 200 of these studies online.

This was recently confirmed again in a 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire, which also found as much controlling behavior in the women as the men.

A recent study in the Journal of Family Violence found many male callers to a national hotline experienced high rates of severe violence from female partners who used violence to control them.

It is wrong to ignore or downplay male victims for political or ideological reasons. When we neglect male victims, we neglect their children. This is a serious problem. We cannot break this intergenerational cycle by ignoring half of it. That's why a global coalition of experts has formed to support a research-based, inclusive approach, and their website has solid data showing women initiate the violence as often as men.

Marc E. Angelucci
President
Los Angeles chapter
National Coalition of Free Men
http://www.ncfmla.org