Slap And Tickle

‘WITH paedophiles unplugged and safely returned to park benches and public toilets, the Independent turns its attention to other matters domestic and notes that one man in six is a victim of violence in the home.

‘It’s a boy. Get ‘im!’

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the most senior female judge in England and Wales, told a group of legal types gathered at Downing Street yesterday that one in ten women think it is acceptable to hit their partner.

We have studied tapes of EastEnders and other fly-on-the-wall docu-soaps and can confirm the Dame’s findings. But why are men increasingly being targeted?

Earlier in the Independent there appears a story that could well be related to the Dame’s chilling find.

A clutch of research trials have discovered that four out of five births are now attended by the baby’s father.

Does the Dame’s violence include a quick dig in the head at the moment of delivery? Are the women’s screams and howls of utter pain part of the increasingly violent man-woman struggle?

The research, sadly, fails to address these pints, but we do learn from Professor Elaine Hodnett, of Toronto University, that women should leave their man outside and take a female friend into the delivery room.

As well as reducing the risk of domestic violence, evidence suggests that the presence of a trusted female mate raises the chance of a successful natural birth.

Just by being there, the man is adding to the chances that the woman who is pushing her nails into the bones of his hand and ripping aside the flesh will need a Caesarean.

And that he will need stitches and a vasectomy…’

Posted: 24th, September 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink