Violence against family members is something that women do at least as often as men. There are dozens of solid scientific studies that reveal a picture of family violence that is strikingly different from what we usually see in the media. For example, Murray Straus, a sociologist and co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, provided some statistics that blew my mind. He concluded by saying that women are three times more likely than men to use weapons in spousal violence. He also said that women beat their sons more than they beat their daughters and that women commit 52 percent of spousal murders and are convicted of 41 percent of spousal murders. There are also some misleading statistics on family violence. First, men usually don't report their abusive wives to the police because they are too proud. The second is that children usually do not report their abusive mothers to the police. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One reason we don't see many women getting reported is because the media doesn't encourage men to report crime. Women are the ones who are encouraged to report marital violence through countless media warnings. The media always portrays the woman as the victim and the man as the executioner. Men and children may not report when a woman hurts them, but the bodies of men and children victimized by violent women are usually reported. There is a lot of confusion about who to believe in the spousal violence debate. On the one hand we have women's feminist groups that rely on police statistics. On the other hand we have social scientists who rely on scientifically structured studies, which receive no media attention. The American press is more interested in political correctness than scientific accuracy. That's why our society is so messed up today, because of the media. It is important to note that the same type of studies have been conducted in many countries. There is cross-cultural verification of the fact that women are more violent than men in the family environment. When behavior is cross-culturally verified it means that it is part of human nature rather than the result of cultural conditioning. Women are very often responsible for marital violence in all cultures studied to date. This leads many professionals to conclude that there is something biological about violent women in family situations. Women see the home as their territory. Like many other species on the planet, we humans will ignore the size difference when we experience conflict in our territory. Around the world, women are more violent than men in the family. It is usually women who initiate spousal abuse. This means that they strike first, and that women strike more frequently, as well as using weapons three times more often than men. This combination of violent acts means that efforts to find solutions to the problem of family violence must include adequate attention to female perpetrators. We need to recognize that women are violent and we need nationwide education programs that paint women as perpetrators. Other studies show that men are becoming less violent at the same time that women are becoming more violent. Educating men seems to work. Educating men seems to work. Educating women to be less violent should now be the main focus of programs.