“My toughest fight was my first wife.”– Former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali
Research shows that women are as likely to attack their male partners as vice versa, and that a third of domestic violence inquiries are suffered by heterosexual men. I’ve often emphasized that domestic violence is a lot more than a man and a woman fighting in a kitchen-turned-boxing ring, and that female abusers often use the element of surprise to balance the scales. When you live with someone, there are an endless number of possibilities if you want to harm them.
This new Tampa case is yet another example. According to Husband wakes to hot grease from wife:
“Tanesha Young, 24, thought her husband was cheating on her, so she poured hot grease all over him. That’s according to a report from Tampa Police.
“After Antone Neely fell asleep, Young poured hot grease on him that burned the majority of his body.
“Young is being held without bond at the Hillsborough County Jail and has been charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
“The husband remains at Tampa General Hospital.”
Nice that the reporter was able to get the woman’s justification for her crime right there at the beginning of the sentence, before the crime is even mentioned. Nor does the story or the others I’ve seen mention the phrase “domestic violence.”
Wayne, the reader who sent me the piece, says that various news sites have reported this crime and that “those sites that allow comments have a disturbing number of ‘cheating bastard got what he deserved’ type of comments.”
Interestingly, this is similar to what happened to singer Al Green. According to VH1:
“At the height of his popularity, Green’s former girlfriend, Mrs. Mary Woodson, broke into his Memphis home in October 1974 and poured boiling grits on the singer as he was bathing, inflicting second-degree burns on his back, stomach and arm…Green interpreted the violent incident as a sign from God that he should enter the ministry.”
[Note: If you or someone you love is being abused, the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women provides crisis intervention and support services to victims of domestic violence and their families.]