New poll shows contradictory findings

Alarming results show women feel domestic violence is their fault

As alarming as it is for men to say women could avoid getting hit if they knew when to stop talking, it is even more alarming to hear women agree with the sentiment.

A recent nationwide survey called View On Women, a poll sponsored by the Times Union magazine Women@work, was designed to find out what men and women think about women’s roles and rights. In response to the question: “Wives could avoid being beaten by their husbands if they knew when to stop talking,” 38% of men in the 36-45 age group agreed, as did 26% of men ages 2635. Among women, 12% of women in both the 26-35 and 36-45 age groups agreed.

“This tells me if any of these women were victimized, they wouldn’t call anyone. They wouldn’t call the police, because they think it’s their fault,” said

Eve Walter, the researcher who wrote the VOW poll. “If you’re blaming yourself, you’re not getting help.”

Walter is founder and president of Eden Research and Evaluation, and an associate professor of research at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The poll was conducted in partnership with The College of Saint Rose Women’s Leadership Institute.

This year’s poll, surveying 3,500 randomly selected people from around the country, covered a range of topics, including the role of women in the workplace and in politics. At noon on Tuesday, Executive Director of Youth Development and the Albany YMCA with the Capital District YMCA Anzala Alozie will join Walter in a live video conference to talk about the results of the survey pertinent to women in the family. Register at vowpoll. eventbrite.com. You can see more results from the survey when you visit the Women@work website, tuwomenatwork.com.

Walter also noted the dichotomy between the responses to two questions — one having to do with reducing domestic violence and sexual assault, and the other gauging the importance of safe reproductive health care. Responses to the violence question were encouraging across men and women in all age groups: 95% or more agreed it was important. But far fewer individuals — particularly men — think access safe reproductive health care is important.

It shows a disconnect, Walter said, because the access is integral to keeping women safe.

“If a woman is raped, but can’t have an abortion, or if a woman can’t protect herself from getting pregnant, that’s associated with domestic violence,” she said.

Walter, who was also behind the first VOW poll conducted in New York in 2017, said she designed all of the questions as conversation starters, because it is only in talking about these issues that cultural change happens, she said. For

example, Americans accept the premise of our justice system, “innocent until proven guilty,” but at the same time expect women to prove they’re not lying, she said. A culture that doesn’t value a victim’s word leads to chronic self-blaming on the part of the victim.

“The best thing a police officer can say when responding to a domestic violence situation, other than the remove the perpetrator, is to assume the victim is telling the truth,” Walter said. “It doesn’t mean the accused will be locked up for life, it doesn’t mean an investigation won’t follow, but in the moment, the right thing to do is assess the well-being of the victim and assume she’s telling the truth.”