In "soft" sciences like sociology, it's much more difficult to detect manipulation of research, than in "hard" sciences like physics. Soft science researchers who strive for objectivity deserve an extra measure of respect. Sadly, far too many researchers are more concerned with pushing an agenda than with objectivity. These same problems are not unknown in the world of journalism. Since the soft sciences and the media have a powerful influence on social policies in this country, this affects every family and every individual.

Breaking the Science is about the broken "science" that's being used to create law and drive social policy.


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Featured Articles

 Featured  Why the Overwhehning Evidence on Partner Physical Violence Has Not Been Perceived and Is Often Denied
A clear and concise explanation of the dishonest techniques used by many researchers to mislead the public into thinking that the majority of domestic violence involves violent men and victimized women.
Martha Coakley's Chappaquiddick
Does a prosecutor who campaigned to keep an innocent man in jail deserve to be elected U.S. Senator? Send a message on election day.
Journalistic Misrepresentation at Slate.com's New Woman-Oriented Publication "Double X"
"Double X" Writer Pushes The Limits On Journalistic Ethics
 Featured  Processes Explaining the Concealment and Distortion of Evidence on Gender Symmetry in Partner Violence
A clear and concise explanation of the dishonest techniques used by many researchers to mislead the public into thinking that the majority of domestic violence involves violent men and victimized women.
71% of Children Killed by One Parent are Killed by Their Mothers; 60% of Victims are Boys
A close look at DHHS data over a 5 year period shows much lower risk to children from fathers than from mothers.
Pure Male-On-Female Violence Accounts for Only 15% of Cases of Heterosexual Domestic Violence!
A study of 18,761 heterosexual relationships, done by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, has found that women perpetrate 70% of non-reciprocal violence. Only 30% of non-reciprocal violence was perpetrated by men. And non-reciprocal violence accounted for only half of all cases. Overall, the cases resulted in a significant number of injuries to men as well as to women.
Gender Symmetry in Partner Violence: The Evidence, the Denial, and the Implications for Primary Prevention and Treatment by Murray A. Straus, Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire and Katreena Scott, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto
The title says it all. Pay particular attention to the section "Methods Used to Conceal, Deny, and Distort the Research". Also of interest is "Why PV is Misperceived as Asymmetrical".
 Featured  The New Star Chamber: The New Jersey Family Court and the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act by David N. Heleniak, Esq.
Critique of New Jersey's attempt to "convert that which is in its nature a prosecution for a crime into a civil proceeding," Rutgers Law Review, Vol 57:3, 2005
 Featured  “This Way To The Revolution” by Erin Pizzey
In 1971, Erin Pizzey founded the world's first battered women's shelter in Chiswick, England. In this memoir of her 1977 tour of the United States, Erin recounts how her efforts were misused by Gloria Steinem, Lenore Walker, and others, in furtherance of their political agenda.
Misrepresentation of Gender Bias in the 1989 Report of the Gender Bias Committee of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Gender Bias Committee report created the widely quoted factoid that fathers are granted sole or joint physical custody 70% of the time when they request it. It turns out that the very same data shows that the rate at which primary physical custody was granted to mothers is higher than the rate for fathers. Learn how they fiddled with the numbers to make it sound like courts are biased against mothers.
Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me
NYU professor Dalton Conley compares apples and oranges to create the case for appearance bias against women

Mark's Personal Writings

Why?
Mark discusses the principles he values and his reasons for creating this website.
Growing Up With a Problem that Doesn't Exist
Childhood experiences.
Don't Put Your Trust In Movements
Hypocrisy instead of equality.
Gloria and Me
First Glimmerings of Hope – How John Lennon and Mr. Dithers led to my one and only conversation with Gloria Steinem.
With Every Signature A Wound Is Healed
Trying to make a difference. (Old composition, newly posted)
Mark Rosenthal's Presentation on How the System Ought to Respond to Domestic Violence
In 2002 I had the opportunity to address an audience of social workers and law enforcement officials at the annual Domestic Violence Conference at York College (C.U.N.Y.). Drawing lessons from my own childhood, I warned them of the immense harm they unknowingly cause to children when they apply rote cookie-cutter solutions instead of putting in the effort to get it right.

Gender Bias

Journalistic Misrepresentation at Slate.com's New Woman-Oriented Publication "Double X"
"Double X" Writer Pushes The Limits On Journalistic Ethics
Misrepresentation of Gender Bias in the 1989 Report of the Gender Bias Committee of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Gender Bias Committee report created the widely quoted factoid that fathers are granted sole or joint physical custody 70% of the time when they request it. It turns out that the very same data shows that the rate at which primary physical custody was granted to mothers is higher than the rate for fathers. Learn how they fiddled with the numbers to make it sound like courts are biased against mothers.
Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me
NYU professor Dalton Conley compares apples and oranges to create the case for appearance bias against women
Did Medical Research Routinely Exclude Women? An Examination of the Evidence
Think medical research studies routinely excluded women? Think again. Read this article from the journal Epidemiology and Society.

Domestic Violence

 Featured  Why the Overwhehning Evidence on Partner Physical Violence Has Not Been Perceived and Is Often Denied
A clear and concise explanation of the dishonest techniques used by many researchers to mislead the public into thinking that the majority of domestic violence involves violent men and victimized women.
 Featured  Processes Explaining the Concealment and Distortion of Evidence on Gender Symmetry in Partner Violence
A clear and concise explanation of the dishonest techniques used by many researchers to mislead the public into thinking that the majority of domestic violence involves violent men and victimized women.
71% of Children Killed by One Parent are Killed by Their Mothers; 60% of Victims are Boys
A close look at DHHS data over a 5 year period shows much lower risk to children from fathers than from mothers.
Pure Male-On-Female Violence Accounts for Only 15% of Cases of Heterosexual Domestic Violence!
A study of 18,761 heterosexual relationships, done by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, has found that women perpetrate 70% of non-reciprocal violence. Only 30% of non-reciprocal violence was perpetrated by men. And non-reciprocal violence accounted for only half of all cases. Overall, the cases resulted in a significant number of injuries to men as well as to women.
Gender Symmetry in Partner Violence: The Evidence, the Denial, and the Implications for Primary Prevention and Treatment by Murray A. Straus, Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire and Katreena Scott, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto
The title says it all. Pay particular attention to the section "Methods Used to Conceal, Deny, and Distort the Research". Also of interest is "Why PV is Misperceived as Asymmetrical".
 Featured  The New Star Chamber: The New Jersey Family Court and the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act by David N. Heleniak, Esq.
Critique of New Jersey's attempt to "convert that which is in its nature a prosecution for a crime into a civil proceeding," Rutgers Law Review, Vol 57:3, 2005
 Featured  “This Way To The Revolution” by Erin Pizzey
In 1971, Erin Pizzey founded the world's first battered women's shelter in Chiswick, England. In this memoir of her 1977 tour of the United States, Erin recounts how her efforts were misused by Gloria Steinem, Lenore Walker, and others, in furtherance of their political agenda.
Skimmington Revisited by Dr. Malcolm George, London University
Public humiliation of any man who would “allow himself” to be beaten by his wife is a long-standing tradition throughout Europe.
Riding the Donkey Backwards: Men as the Unacceptable Victims of Marital Violence
by Dr. Malcolm George, London University

History of the European tradition of humiliating male victims.
Origin of Claim that Domestic Violence Kills as Many Women Every 5 Years as the Number of U.S. Soldiers Killed in Viet Nam
Why did Dr. Robert McAfee, president-elect of the AMA, give wildly exaggerated testimony before the U.S. Senate?
Did Phil Hartman Die from Congressionally-Sanctioned Discrimination?
Lives could be saved if Congress would pass a non-discriminatory VAWA
The Missing Persons of Domestic Violence: Battered Men
by Richard J. Gelles, Ph.D., (Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice)

What happened when Richard J. Gelles unearthed statistics about women who abuse men? Death threats and other compliments.
Straus Says National Violence Against Women Survey is Biased
The National Violence Against Women Survey found 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by their partners each year. But the policy implications section of the report treats the 835,000 men as the elephant in the room that everybody's politely trying not to notice.
VAWA Reauthorization: Billions for battered women, not a penny for battered men!
The bill designates the approximately 16,304 Native American women abused annually as an "underserved population," but turns a blind eye to the 835,000 men abused annually for whom there is virtually no help available.
Are Batterer Intervention Programs Being Given Undeserved Credit?
Reasons to think the statistics on success of EMERGE-style Batterer Intervention Programs may be inflated.
Mark Rosenthal's Presentation on How the System Ought to Respond to Domestic Violence
In 2002 I had the opportunity to address an audience of social workers and law enforcement officials at the annual Domestic Violence Conference at York College (C.U.N.Y.). Drawing lessons from my own childhood, I warned them of the immense harm they unknowingly cause to children when they apply rote cookie-cutter solutions instead of putting in the effort to get it right.

Broken Science in “Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories”

Fathers & Families critiques the scholarly research cited in support of the assertions in Breaking the Silence
Among F&F's key findings are:
  • Many articles cited in support of the film contain assertions unsupported by any data.
  • In those articles that do contain research data, the data "fail to support the film’s contentions, and strongly suggest contrary conclusions."
  • Two key figures in the film have made statements that raise serious questions about their ability to be objective:
    • GWU Law Prof. Joan Meier is reported to have described herself in writing as among those “who start with an advocate’s perspective,” as opposed to a “neutral” perspective.
    • Lundy Bancroft is reported to have boasted that he was fired by the Massachusetts family courts as a domestic violence educator because of his extreme views.
CPB Ombudsman says Tatge/Lasseur's statement "amounts to a plea of guilty"
The CPB Ombudsman has written a second piece, reporting and commenting on communications from those involved with Breaking the Silence. His assessment of the statement from Tatge/Lasseur Productions is that it “amounts to a plea of guilty to violating the fairness and balance standards of PBS”.
Demonstration Organizer Removes Evidence of PBS Promoting Private Partisan Event
Article cites webpage as evidence. Webpage is quickly changed.
Update: Entire Webpage Disappears!
Murray Straus Says NNEDV Viewer's Guide to Breaking the Silence Cites His Research Out of Context
The “Breaking the Silence” Viewer's Guide cites research by Straus and others to imply that it is only or predominantly violent men who physically abuse children. Straus responds that “the focus on just men in the quote is contradicted by the evidence“
Public Broadcasting Service Ombudsman opines Breaking the Silence “had almost no balance”
Due to controversy over Breaking the Silence, PBS' new ombudsman, Michael Getler, wrote his first column three weeks before his job was supposed to have started. In Getler's article, BTS producer Lasseur responds to the discovery that he had excluded interviewees whose stories might have called the film's premise into question by denigrating them as “fathers who had a destructive political agenda”. Getler says he “thought this particular program had almost no balance“.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Ombudsman concludes “there is no hint of balance in Breaking the Silence
CPB Ombudsman Dr. Ken A. Bode (read his credentials here) writes: “The producers apparently do not subscribe to the idea that an argument can be made more convincing by giving the other side a fair presentation ... this broadcast is so slanted as to raise suspicions that either the family courts of America have gone crazy or there must be another side to the story ... Along with the motives of its sponsor (The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation), Breaking the Silence needs to be reviewed for accuracy, fairness and balance.”
Is ABC About to Produce "Son of Breaking the Silence"?
Recent information has come to light that ABC's Prime Time Live is working on a piece on domestic violence that may distort the issue in much the same way as PBS' recently aired “Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories”.
Breaking the Science: Ostrich Syndrome
The producers of "Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories" say they started out with no preconceived notions, and just followed wherever their extensive research led them. What does the evidence say?
Breaking the Science: Misleading Stories
PBS' "Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories" seems to have more to do with stampeding legislators into passing laws than giving the viewer objective information.
Breaking the Science: Critical analysis of the evidence
Supporting documentation provided at a pre-screening of "Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories" is larded with conveniently slippery terminology, scare tactics, ad hominem attacks, straw man argumentation, and failure to distinguish between allegation and evidence.

Miscellaneous

 New!  Martha Coakley's Chappaquiddick
Does a prosecutor who campaigned to keep an innocent man in jail deserve to be elected U.S. Senator? Send a message on election day.
Letter Regarding N.H. Gov. Lynch's Failure to Appoint Commissioners to the Commission on the Status of Men
As of November 2007, N.H. Gov. John Lynch's appointments to the Commission on the Status of Men were people who displayed no commitment to carrying out the duties of the commission as spelled out in its enabling legislation. Furthermore, Gov. Lynch had solicited applications from these individuals rather than appoint any of the highly qualified individuals who had already submitted applications.

In November 2007, this letter signed by professionals from all over the U.S. was sent to the governor and to members of N.H.'s Executive Council in the hope of encouraging the appointment of commissioners who would demonstrate committment to carrying out the commission's duties.

In spite of this, a full year has passed, and Gov. Lynch has allowed a commissioner who has demonstrated hostility to the commission's mission to continue to sit on the commission even though his appointment expired more than a year ago.
Resolution Regarding the Ongoing Importance of the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Men
Since the 1970s, nearly every state in the U.S. has established a Commission on the Status of Women. But not until 2002 did any state establish an analogous commission to investigate the unique problems that negatively impact men and boys in U.S. society. The 2002 N.H. legislation that created the commission contained a "sunset" clause. The commission will cease to exist in the summer of 2007 if not re-authorized. Because the commission is the only one of its kind, professionals in a variety of fields all across the country have signed a resolution to encourage the N.H. Legislature to make the Commission on the Status of Men a permanent body.
Groundbreaking Study Shows Need for Unbiased Domestic Violence Services
Study conceived by Mark Rosenthal shows many men suffer physical abuse from their female partners, live in fear of them, and the men and their children are denied help by the domestic violence system.
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