Your Dec. 10 “Law and order” article on domestic violence focused on female victims and incorrectly stated “most victims are women.” Most victims who report the violence are women, because men are less likely to report it. But randomized sociological research consistently shows women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men and that men suffer one-third of injuries, as California State University Prof. Martin Fiebert shows in his online bibliography at http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm.

Harvard Medical School just announced a study showing half of heterosexual domestic violence is reciprocal and women initiate most of the reciprocal and 71 percent of the non-reciprocal violence, while men suffer significant injuries. I work with men who have been stabbed, cut with glass, had their teeth knocked out with ashtrays, etc., by wives or girlfriends. They deserve the same dignity as female victims, but instead they’re stigmatized. When they don’t get help, their children suffer long-term damage by the exposure and are more likely to commit the same violence as adults. We can’t end this cycle by playing down half of it. That’s why a global coalition of concerned experts has been formed to combat this problem. Their Web site is at www.nfvlrc.org.

MARC E. ANGELUCCI

Los Angeles

The writer is president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Coalition of Free men.