I could not let him slither away..

...until I had eliminated all chance that he might be an honest troll. So, I have been to the source he later directed me to - the US Centre for Disease Control. And yes, there are indeed statistics which show a majority of infanticides being committed by the mothers. However, these figures only relate to 9.1% of all child killings -those in the first week of life, 82.6% of which occurred on the first day. 95% of these births took place outside hospital and the majority of the mothers were adolescents with histories of mental health problems. So, a frightened, mentally distressed child gives birth alone- perhaps not even knowing (due to inadequate sex education) that she has been pregnant. She then smothers the child. Tragic indeed but, I would argue, deserving more of compassion and care than censure and in no way representative of the female population at large.

Such a selective use of statistics to support an allegation that most child killings are committed by single mothers is nothing other than a poisonous lie.

I then turned to a research paper, by Murray A Strauss, which is published on a web site called batteredmen.com. This, the troll alleges, proves that women are equally, if not more, culpable in domestic violence. The first thing that became evident is that this seems to be a sound piece of work. The second thing was that it does not offer support to the assumption behind the name of the website. To quote Strauss, "for men, the risk of injury and therefore fear of injury, is relatively low." He stresses that there is a real, quantitive and qualititive, difference between a slap and a beating - although both are legally assaults. Furthermore, he ends with this statement:

I believe humanity needs research inspired by the moral agenda and perspective of those who focus on the oppression of women, regardless of whether the oppression is physical, sexual, psychological or economic; and also research inspired by the moral agenda of those who focus on physical assault, regardless of whether the assault is by a man, woman or child. I even dare to hope that the controversy will be resolved by recognizing the need for both perspectives, and that this will bring an end to attempts to discredit those whose agenda and professional role requires a different approach and different perspective.

This is hardly a stinging indictment of feminist theory - indeed, it calls for a further application of it. Strauss does not question the reality of the oppression of women but accepts it as a given. The fact that he calls for research to take other factors into account does not affect this and I would not argue with him.

The troll's attempt to cite this paper as evidence supporting his contention that men are equal, or greater, victims seems, at best, disingenuous. As far as I can make out at first glance , Strauss simply does not say it. "Battered" men are not as equal in number or significance to battered women.

But I certainly do not expect a troll to worry about evidence - since all facts can be twisted to serve his agenda. A slap to him is the moral equivalent of a kicking and a frightened and bewildered child is a vicious murderer.

This set of values seems deeply sick. And yet, I fear, it pervades much society.