SOS to Vice President Biden: Abusing Females Need Help, Not a Brush-Off
WASHINGTON - Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is calling on Vice President Biden to acknowledge the growing problem of female aggression during his upcoming appearance on ABC’s “The View.” Set to air on Tuesday, the show will focus on partner violence in teenage relationships.
SAVE has sent the vice president a letter highlighting how teenage females are now more likely than high school males to resort to partner abuse, sometimes with fatal consequences. Abusing teenage girls need counseling, instead of being ignored: http://www.saveservices.org/2011/09/save-sends-letter-to-vp-biden-regarding-his-upcoming-appearance-on-the-view/
SAVE applauds the vice president highlighting of an age group that has been overlooked in the past. SAVE believes it is crucial that the Administration base its efforts on a full picture of violence in teenage relationships -- a picture provided by surveys conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The CDC’s recent Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey reveals that males are being victimized at a higher rate than females: 10 percent of teenage males versus 9 percent of teenage females report dating violence. In the American Journal of Public Health, a study of young adults revealed a dramatic gap for one-way violence: in 71 percent of cases, females were the aggressors.
Between 1985 and 2007, juvenile courts saw a 233 percent increase in cases involving violence perpetrated by females, according to a DOJ report. And a survey of sixth and seventh grade students in Cleveland recently concluded “boys were more likely to be victims of sexual violence than girls.”
This trend of female violence is alarming, and the vice president owes it to the American people, and especially to at-risk females, to illuminate these trends. Continued disregard for the problem threatens long-lasting harm to the fight against domestic violence. Teenage male victims are unlikely to report relationship abuse.
“It is our sincere hope that the vice president will encourage female aggressors to seek treatment and male victims to seek aid,” says SAVE spokesman Phil Cook. “He also has the chance to correctly frame the discussion of teenage dating violence.”
Contact: Teri Stoddard
301-801-0608
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