Originally Posted by
Adelaide
I cannot cite an exact figure of the top of my head, but domestic violence typically involves both parties being violent in some way. Very few victims that I worked with had never hit or thrown something at their partner, but the overall history of the relationship demonstrated a male aggressor and a female reaction. The men would often use common daily tactics like gaslighting, isolating the women from family/friends, controlling every aspect of their lives, verbal abuse, financial abuse, spousal rape, control of birth control, forced abortions/pregnancy, and so on. The aggressor also tends to threaten to kill themself, the children and pets as a form of manipulation at some point. Most often when the actual police were called, the female had also engaged in violence (hitting, scratching, throwing something) but it was the male who started the confrontation and used the most serious forms of violence (choking, for example).
Is the male always the aggressor? No, but that tends to be the most common in heterosexual cases. Likewise, not everyone gets violent in response but if you're trying to escape someone or a chokehold then you're probably going to be hitting or scratching someone. Scratches leave marks, and choking actually most often doesn't even when it is extreme.
I had one case where the victim was about to black out from being choked and she grabbed a knife and cut her partner's throat. The partner called the police on her, but he was the one arrested. It can be hard to sort out what happened, and some victims are revictimized because they are the ones arrested, charged and served with an EPO/PPO - that EPO/PPO means their kids are often "taken away" (full physical custody to the petitioner) until the hearing. It is often a way of extending the abuse and control to convince police that the victim started it, get the EPO and force them into homelessnss away from their kids. Women go "crawling back" pretty quickly when they are homeless and denied access to their children.
... and females abuse EPOs, too. It's a two way street. There is just a more common sequence of events.
I think the most shocking thing I discovered doing intakes was that domestic violence was emotional and physical, but also financial and sexual. I would estimate that 75% or more of victims are raped, forced to either have an abortion or get pregnant (particularly immigrants but not always) and the husband or boyfriend will have total control over birth control methods. Reproduction is one way to control a woman that is not usually part of the discussion. It is weaponized.
So... Yeah, I'm not surprised if females kill their husbands in 30-40% of spousal murders. Even though they're not often the aggressor, I think the abuse is just so all-consuming that there is going to be a breaking point for some people. Then there are just women who kill their husbands, of course.