DAWN NEESOM MIND OF MY OWN

The Woman's Own columnist has her say on dogs, kids, and mispronouncing words

- DAWN NEESOM

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS NEVER OK

Why is there stigma attached when men are the victims?

Confession time. I once smashed a guitar over my husband's head. OK, so it was a hollow acoustic rather than a solid-bodied job but still not a great look. Not even entirely sure that him throwing an armchair at me was any defence. Though to be fair if you can't dodge a low-flying armchair then you're in trouble.

In our defence we were very young, just moved in together and, er, 'passionate'. It was a row that was equal on both parts - the parts being that we were childish idiots. The physical side of it was almost comical and we ended up laughing at our own stupidity.

But with the benefit of hindsight and 40 years' experience I guess you could say it was domestic violence.

And while no one would ever downplay the horror of violent abuse within the home, I think it's safe to say that every couple has rows where frustration and anger boil over. We're human. Of course we do.

A one-off row is a million miles away from the hellish suffering of those trapped in abusive, controlling relationships.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales for 2024 showed an estimated 1.6 million women and 712,000 men experienced domestic abuse over the year: a prevalence rate of around 6.6% of women and 3% of men.

And while we all have sympathy for ALL victims it's a sobering fact that women are substantially more likely to be injured or killed in incidents of domestic violence than men. The number of women killed by men has hovered between 124 and 168 a year since 2009. On average, 62% of these women will have been killed by a current or former partner.