In the United States, femicide — the gender-based killing of women — is often thought of as an issue affecting low-income countries. This could not be further from the truth; of all femicide cases in high-income countries, 70% occur in the U.S. To put that into perspective, on a global scale, the U.S. ranks 34th for intentional female homicides at a rate of 2.6 killings per 100,000 women.
The link between gender and violence in the U.S. becomes even more apparent when looking at the demographics of male homicides. Men are significantly more likely to be killed by a stranger than women; strangers kill 29% of male homicide victims compared to only 10% of female victims. And while it is true that some men are murdered by their female partners, intimate partner violence accounts for only about 5% of male homicides. Too often, these occur in the context of women acting in self-defense against their abusive male partners.
Furthermore, when compared to male homicides, femicides tend to be more violent and intimate in nature — women are less likely than men to be killed in a shooting, but more likely to be beaten, stabbed, or strangled.
While there aren't any statistics about first dates, intimate partner violence is rampant. Fully half of all women murdered in the US are killed by current or former intimate partners.
And when I get to the place where I really just repeatedly want to call someone an entitled idiot, that's when I block them - so giving you time to read this and then ba-bye!
