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THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday Features- Physicians join fight against wife abuse ByLISABOONSTOPPELPOT The Herald In order to help physicians become more knowledgeable about what they call the frequent severe and chronic problem of wife abuse the Ontario Medical Association has developed a booklet providing guidelines on assessing and treating victims of wife abuse Dr Joan Bain chairperson of the Wife Assault Committee says the OMA has been working since to increase physicians awareness and understanding of wife abuse as a health issue On average a woman suffers episodes of assault before ap proaching the police Dr Debbie Zeni President of the Georgetown Medical Associa tion says any document given to physicians on wife abuse that heightens their awareness of the problems improves things for the people abused Physicians generally dont have a problem dealing with wife abuse she said but sometimes while they are treating patients for bruises cuts or worse they may not be thinking of it and may not recognize it But she says physicians are generally aware of the problems facing women in regards to abuse Area physicians meet weekly to listen to talks and learn about abuse she said The wife abuse booklet says that conservative estimates sug gest one in Canadian women living with a man suffers physical abuse in their relation ship It also says onethird of bat tered women either watched their mothers being battered or were abused as children and one out of two men who beat their wives were abused as children or witnessed domestic violence The pamphlet says physicians have a major role to play in iden tifying cases understanding the problem and being supportive and assisting community agen cies in the prevention of domestic violence Dr Zeni agrees with this Physicians can play a role in enabling and encouraging women to remove themselves from abusive situations They can help women find alternatives rather than return to that situation The booklet helps to answer some common questions people who havent experienced abuse ask Questions concerning what are the character tics of violent families and why women stay The pamphlet reveals that women ofen feel guilty and somehow responsible for the violence while the male batterers often appear to be competent and successful to outsiders but within the family they try to exert ex cessive control over their part ners and are frequently jealous of any outside contacts with friends of family As to why women stay in abusive situations the booklet suggests that women feel a great need to hold their family together at any cost and that between the violent episodes the batterers are often caring loving husbands and fathers As well the women may be economically dependant on the batterer and existent social assistance and subsidized hous ing programs often cannot counter this dependence Fur thermore the women may fear retaliation from their husband if they leave The booklet goes on to outline approaches to treatment of the male batterer and his family and concludes with numerous clinical scenarios that will assist the physician in approaching both the victim and batterers Women facing greatest risk from their intimate partners By SALLY JOHNSTON Present studies indicate that more women are dying at the hands of their male lovers than official figures show an that battered women face the greatest risk of violence and murder when they try to leave abusive part ners Although official Statistics Canada data indicate that an average of 75 women are killed each year by their husbands the true picture is far worse ac cording to research by Dr Rosemary Gartner professor of law and sociology at the Universi ty of Toronto She says StatCans figures only include those women killed by in timate partners to whom they are legally married but the figures are probably 20 to per cent higher if you include women who are killed by their lovers boyfriends and exspouses Gartner studied murder files from Toronto police between nd and found that women were killed by their intimate partners about half of all women killed in the dry during those years For women it seems the greatest risk they face Is from in timate partners she says Nor does the situation show any signs of improving despite in creased public awareness of violence against women and several measures to help abused women Gartner suggests Since the mid1980s many steps have been taken to stem violent crimes against women for ex ample police nationwide have been instructed to lay charges where evidence of assault exists even when the victim does not want charges laid Canadas network of shelters has grown to 300 and more than 100 counselling programs exist for men who abuse women However this is not enough says Gartner While these measures encourage women to leave abusive partners they dont provide them increased protection against violence and may even put them at greater risk In fact she says that abused women face the greatest risk at the point of separation from their partners The scary thing is that women may seek ways out of an abusive relationship but that doesnt necessarily protect them Shelters are only a shortterm solution she says There are many many cases of women being tracked down for months even years by angry and jealous expartners These women need more proactive police protection The men should be arrested and locked up It may seem oppressive but we have to help these women Gartners findings are sup ported by those of another homicide researcher Dr Wilson a psychologist at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario The common thread in spousal murders is male sexual jealousy Wilson said in a lecture at the university Usually the woman is killed shortly after Ieving the man she lives with In mens ac counts of why they killed the women most say it was because the woman was fooling around and they couldnt stand that In most cases a large compo nent of violent sexual jealousy is extreme possessiveness a proprietary view of the woman as something belonging to the man Gartner adds Relationships between young women and middleaged men so- called MayDecember romances are statistically most likely to end in murder of the woman says Wilson She is not sure why and intends to research the area fur ther She hypothesizes that in such relationships with a 10year or larger age gap between the part ners the older partner feels in secure because they feel themselves less attractive In ad dition the younger partner may have a wider range of interests activities and friends that the older partner finds threatening she guesses She warns women against men who show signs of sexual jealousy Though young women may find it flattering sexual prietariness Is the one theme that permeates the literature on spousal homicide and on wife beating she points out Women killed by men out number men killed by women by about four to one Wilson found About 24 men are killed by their wives in Canada each year and in most of those cases women are defending themselves against assault Many of the men who are killed have at one time or another accused their wives of infidelity As Gartner sees it We may be giving women a choice either kill or be killed Canadian Science News Rape Crisis Centre approves self- defence course By LISA BOONSTOPPRLPOT The Herald Giving women choices and alternatives to being victims of sexual and violent assault what the Halton Rape Crisis Centre and WenDo Womens Self Defence Corporation are trying lo do by offering a self defence course for women As part of their mandate the Halton Rape Crisis Centre pro vides these opportunities for women They along with the WenDo Corporation and Maple Grove United Church in Milton where the course is taught pro vide the program which is design ed for women to learn easytouse and methods of protecting themselves in a wide range of situations Susanne Reimer from the Crisis Centre said more and more women are wanting to take selfdefence courses This is the third time this particular course has been offered to Halton women since September 1990 Once 20 women sign up for the course it is held at the church Ms said the number of calls the Crisis Centre receives has doubled since when they received360 calls The bulk of the calls are from women who knew their attacker which really belies the myth of a stranger lurking around to at tack she said One of the great things about the WenDo course is that it gives women a chance to share the ex periences of being a woman said Ms Reimer who herself has taken the course Information sheets from the WenDo corporation say response from participants in the program indicate the discussions about wife assault sexual harrassment and sexual assault are the most important part of the course and help women realize that the at- A WENDO womens Mi SELF DEFENCE CORPORATION tack was not tfteir fault Besides the discussions Wen- Do offers techniques designed for smaller nonviolent women to defend themselves against larger stronger and violent at- In the basic hour course women learn releases from chokes and holds how to make a fist how to kick effective ly and the location of vulnerable targets on an attacker As well effective defences against more threatening attacks such as those with weapons and more than one attacker are covered A WenDo spokesperson said the techniques have been taught to girls as young as and to women over the age of It has been taught in Toronto since The fee for the course is per person For more information on the course or information about the Crisis Centre and what it of call the Halton Rape Cnsis Centre at 1588 Watch For KNECHTELS Weekly Specials on Page 7 then drop in to Georgetown Food Market Moore Park Plaza Georgetown Money Saving Coupons Available On Page 15 Under This Weeks InStore Specials