Violence Begins at Home

Ignacio Ramonet, writing in Le Monde diplomatique, explodes the popular myth that domestic violence is a lower-class problem:

A report from the Council of Europe¹ says that "it is even proved that the incidence of domestic violence seems to increase with income and level of education". It stresses that in the Netherlands "almost half of all those who commit violence against women hold university degrees". In France attackers are usually men whose professional status gives them a degree of power. A sizeable percentage of the attackers are management personnel (67%), health professionals (25%) and officers in the police or army².