Media Reports Must Cease the Erasure of Male Victims of Hamas Attacks

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Hain

Telephone: +1 513-479-3335

Media Reports Must Cease the Erasure of Male Victims of Hamas Attacks

October 9, 2023 – The Hamas attacks on Israel have received extensive media coverage. The Hamas attacks were directed at persons residing in central and southern Israel, without distinction of sex. But many media accounts inexplicably erased men from their headlines:

“Hamas declares bloodthirsty war on women in attack on Israel” (1)
“Women captured, taken hostage after Hamas militants storm Israel” (2)
“Women and children among dozens of hostages being held” (3)

Other accounts emphasized female victimization, while minimizing or ignoring the plight of male victims (4, 5, 6).

Sex bias is also apparent in mortality figures among military officials. Photographs of killed soldiers and police officers reveal that 87% are males (7). In contrast, women make up about 40% of soldiers and 25% of officers in the Israeli military (8), raising the question whether women in the Israeli military receive favored treatment.

The erasure of male victims of violence is a problem in other areas of society. For example, hundreds of studies show that men are as likely as women to be victims of domestic violence (9). But the United Nations refuses to acknowledge this fact (10).

Such outdated views are beginning to change. Last week, the Equalities Minister of Denmark announced a plan to assure men who are subjected to domestic violence have the same right as women to go to a crisis center and receive psychological assistance (11).

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