All three are correct and all quote from the same report, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence, found online at http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/181867.txt. The report was sponsored jointly by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and reports the findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. However, the Falimy Violence Prevention Fund, President Clinton, and Judith Beals chose not to reveal the entire sentence they quote from. The complete sentence for the FVPF and the President is, "According to these estimates, approximately 1.5 million women and 834,732 men are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States." The complete sentence that Judith Beals chose to quote in part is, "Thus approximately 4.8 million intimate partner rapes and physical assaults are perpetrated against U.S. women annually, and approximately 2.9 million intimate partner physical assaults are committed against U.S. men annually." We must question what purpose is served by quoting only part of the truth? In that same report is the fact that 40 precent of surveyed women and 54 precent of surveyed men said an adult caretaker physically assaulted them as a child.

Family Nonviolence, Inc. proffers that if we are to understand the cause of violence against women we must understand the cause of child abuse, sibling abuse, intimate partner abuse, spousal abuse, and elder abuse. Familial abuse is not only gender based or a problem only faced by women. It is a complex, multifaceted experiance that is grounded in society's predisposition to use force as a legitimate means of attaining a specific goal. There is a cutural norm that allows whoever has the most power to accept the use of physical or institutional force in the socialization process. The use of physical force or institutionalized socialization to change or alter behavior of others, regardless of gender, is ingrained in how we view rightsof others. Historically chuildren regardless of gender, most women and some men, the elderly regardless of gender, and those who are unable to care for themselves regardless of gender have had the least rights in society. It is a fact that the rights of many people, regardless of gender, who are not, "just like us" have not been equally and adequately protected.

It is the purpose of Family Nonviolence, Inc. to explore the cause of all family abuse through seeking the whole truth and not a partial truth. We invite you to use this web page to explore with us.