This website has largely referred to victims as women and children and to perpetrators as male. According to the latest figures from the Home Office*, of an estimated 635,000 incidents of domestic violence in 2001/2 in England and Wales - 81 per cent of the victims were women and 19 per cent were men.

Of course, lesbians and gay men also experience domestic violence (for further information please call Broken Rainbow on 08452 604460 or visit www.broken-rainbow.org.uk.

Alternatively, you can call the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard on 020 7837 7324 or visit www.llgs.org.uk.

Men also experience domestic violence at the hands of female abusers. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, domestic violence, especially the most dangerous and lethal violence, is committed by men towards their female partners and this website reflects that reality.

Also, most male victims are not harassed after they end the relationship, whereas for abused women this is the most dangerous time for them.

There is a section on male victims that addresses issues which specifically affect men.

However, much of the information here will be of use to anyone who experiences domestic violence irrespective of gender or sexuality. Of all the services available to assist domestic violence victims, only refuges are exclusively for women.

*(Crime in England and Wales, Home Office, July 2002)

This article was last reviewed by Catherine Orr Deas in December 2005.
First published in February 2003.