Menstuff® has compiled the following information on the InteliHealth.com web site for the Haarvard School of Medicine.
Back on 2/22/02, we wrote about our experience visiting the
InteliHealth.com web site and
their portrail of men as the sole abusers in domestic violence. The
issue has been resolved. C
to InteliHealth.
Not a Supportive Resource for Abused Men
Date: 2/20/2002
To: comments@InteliHealth.com
bcc: PR@InteliHealth.com
I accessed the following URL from the Men's Health section of your web site looking for support for men. (www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9348/29382/192428.html?d=dmtContent) You must not have current U.S. Justice Department statistics. That over 1/3 of reported domestic violence have men as victims and women and perpetrators, and women lead in all categories of child abuse (62% of total abusers of children) and the only category where men lead women is in sexual abuse of children and women still represent 25% of the perpetrators.
I would encourage you to write your information in a less bias way or don't offer the hyperlink to men. The following is from your web site. We've added the bold where you are sex specific.
Where To Find Help
While mental health services may be appropriate and quite helpful after the crisis of abuse has passed, or as support as a person tries to extricate herself from an abusive situation, the problem of abuse requires a complex intermeshing of various community services. Depending on what is needed, most communities offer social, legal, financial, housing, educational and preventative services for abuse victims, and often, the abusers.
In the case of sexual or physical child abuse, it must be reported immediately to Child Protective Services. If you have any questions or concerns, you can call the National Child Abuse Hotline number: (800) 4-A-CHILD.
With other types of abuse, the primary and most effective way to initiate help is by calling the appropriate hotline. Most communities have confidential hotlines for sexual abuse and domestic violence, and most of these hotlines are linked to freestanding centers. If you call the national hotline, they will refer you to or connect you directly with your local hotline:
Child Abuse: (800) 422-4453
Elder Abuse: (800) 677-1116
Sexual Assault: (800) 656-4673
Domestic Violence: (800) 799-7233
Once a person calls the hotline, the hotline volunteer will immediately ask about their safety, current health and circumstances. During the aftermath of a rape or episode of domestic violence, the hotline may offer options -- to call the police, to go to the hospital -- and advise the victim what she can expect if she chooses to do so. If a person has already called the police or gone to the hospital, chances are that people there will report the abuse or rape to the hotline; if the victim chooses, a volunteer will come to support and advocate and calm her during the height of the crisis.
After the crisis passes, and the victim is stabilized, hotline volunteers, who are often linked to freestanding service centers, will likely make appropriate referrals. Even if someone calls the hotline because his current crisis is rooted in a childhood experience of sexual abuse or incest, the volunteer will help stabilize him and make appropriate referrals. Depending on the circumstances, these may include:
Legal services and advocacy
Individual counseling and support groups
AIDS and STDs testing and other medical services
Divorce workshops and counseling around custody issues
Women in transition programs that help women leave
abusive home situations Emergency shelter and transitional
housing
Employment and financial counseling
Counseling and other help for the offender or batterer
The National Coalition Against Sexual Assault and The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence sponsor the national hotlines. They also lobby for legislation and funding, organize and fund local freestanding centers, disseminate information, and coordinate much of the local services around these issues.
Your primary care doctor is often a good initial resource for advice regarding domestic violence. Your doctor can help direct you to the best places you can go for help.
If a victim of domestic violence isn't ready to leave the abusive situation, she should at least have a back-up safety plan. Key ingredients include keeping an extra set of car keys and a suitcase with important papers and an extra set of clothes (for herself and her children) at a neighbor's house.
Our comment: Do you have any concept what it's like for an abused husband. If he reports her, he gets arrested. If she attacks the children and he doesn't report her, he goes to jail. I encourage you to understand that the third of reported domestic violence cases would probably include even more men if they had some actual resources and support when they really are the victim. Will you be providing those resources?
Subj: RE: [FAQ] We've Decided to Take Action
Date: 6/7/2002 1:40:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Online@intelihealth.com
To: GordonClay@aol.com
We did respond to your initial e-mail to InteliHealth. I have included the response sent to you on 2/21/02 below the line. I did forward your original comments to our editorial staff for review and again this time. Your feedback is appreciated.
Kelly Buck
InteliHealth Customer Service
2/21/02
Dear Gordon,
Thank you for contacting InteliHealth.
We appreciate that you took the time to share your comments with us. We use consumer feedback to direct our content development/men's health editor.
We hope you revisit us soon and have a more positive experience with InteliHealth at www.intelihealth.com.
Sincerely,
Oceana Rose
InteliHealth Customer Service
www.intelihealth.com
Our Response Back
Kelly:
Sorry, I didn't and don't consider basically a computer generated form a response, but I can see your point, technically. So, we will clarify that on our web site. However, I guess the real point here is that there has been no real response to our question in the past 3 and a half months (since 2/21/02), especially from your editorial staff, so we assume, for our visitors sake, that Harvard Medical School sees Domestic Violence victims as solely female and perpetrators as solely male, regardless of what the U. S. Justice Department statistics show and that Harvard Medical School plans to continue to portray that misleading view to the public. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Gordon Clay
Their Final Response
6/25/2002 10:10:30 AM
The article you referenced on the InteliHealth site has been updated by the editor. The references to gender within the article have been changed to make it more universal. The content itself is, in the opinion of our editor, applicable to all. We hope this is more satisfactory to you as well as our other readers.
Kelly Buck
InteliHealth Customer Service
Online@intelihealth.com
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