Both men and women can be perpetrators of domestic violence

UBC psychology professor Don Dutton believes it’s time to rethink the notion that men are the only perpetrators of domestic violence. In a Vancouver Sun op-ed, Dutton said the fact that men are less likely to report victimization and Canadian police have been trained to arrest only men in domestic conflict cases could contribute to under-reporting of male victims. Dutton called out the women’s movement for being unwilling “to view women as agents capable of contributing to conflict and viewing them instead as hapless victims.” He advocated for “a major role for marital counsellors and couple therapists in our approach to domestic assault.”