Those shelters are funded with tax payer dollars. I believe that shelters funded by tax payer money should not be able to turn away victims of DV based on their gender alone.
The Duluth Model is a Feminist model for domestic violence that purposely ignores male victims. In their FAQ they explain:
Many women who do use violence against their male partners are being battered. Their violence is used primarily to respond to and resist the violence used against them. On the societal level, women’s violence against men has a trivial effect on men compared to the devastating effect of men’s violence against women.
They trivialize (literally) the violence perpetrated against men by women.
Murray Straus was a Feminist and a leading researcher on the subject of DV and IPV and his research showed that most domestic violence was bi-directional. He ostracized from Feminist community for his research.
Erin Prizzey started the first and currently largest domestic violence shelter in the world, the Refuge in the UK.
Pizzey has been the subject of bomb threats and boycotts because her experience and research into the issue led her to conclude that most domestic violence is reciprocal, and that women are equally as capable of violence as men. These threats eventually led to her exile from the UK. Pizzey has said that the threats were from militant feminists. She has also stated that she is banned from the refuge she started.
I don’t blame Feminists for men’s issues. Men’s social issues are societies problem, not Feminism. I do blame Feminists for actively undermining attempts for society to address men’s issues. Feminists often gatekeep victimhood.
Feminists don’t have a very good track record supporting men with regards to domestic violence. It’s not surprising, as it runs counter to their narrative which tends to characterize men as abusers and women as victims. Feminists tend to use Partriachy Theory and OOGD to dismiss, discredit and/or ignore male victims of IPV/DV.
I really don’t have a beef with Feminists, however, I don’t think that they can be relied upon to advocate for men. Eventually, conflicts of interest will arise and men’s advocacy will suffer.
