International Women's day: talking point

I read an alarming statistic on Twitter this morning, it said that domestic violence killed more women in the UK, between the age of 16 & 45, each year than breast cancer. So I thought it would be fitting to share that fact on International Women's Day.
https://twitter.com/WeeMissBea/status/971516332519796737

Other alarming facts have been filtering through over the years: that the perpetrators of large scale acts of violence and terrorism often have a history of violence against women. The Manchester bomber and the Florida school shooter are the most recent examples that come to mind.

Why isn't this link being talked about more? It seems obvious - in the way that many people are aware that serial killers seem to start off by torturing animals, surely it is a gruesomely logical train of thought that someone who is capable of slaughtering their fellow humans must have shown some indication of brutality in the past. Which is why domestic violence must be treated seriously.

If you look at the historic legal implications of domestic violence, it makes sobering reading. Before 1850, a man was legally permitted to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it was no thicker than his thumb.
There are more specific and accurate stats here:
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/equality-and-diversity/doc/gender-equality-timeline.pdf
And how about violence towards children?
Even now, it's not actually illegal for parents to smack children, in England, although it is in Scotland.

I was going to go on to talk about the shocking incident that has happened recently in our neighbourhood - a ‘family annihilation’ I think they’re called, when a man (and it always seems to be a man) kills himself, after he has slaughtered his whole family. I don’t want to diminish the horror of what has happened but I don’t want to write about it; it’s too depressing.

What I’m going to do instead is share the Just Giving page of comedian, Richard Herring, who is doing stirling work toady on Twitter, replying to every single goon who asks, belligerently  - ‘When is it International Men’s Day, then??’ With the response ‘It’s the 19th of November’!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/November19th?utm_source=twitter