Sir, - Lia Godfrey (September 8th) criticises John Waters for referring to the "domestic violence industry". The fact is that there are few industries that have expanded at the same rate as the "domestic violence industry" - or perhaps it should be more correctly referred to as the "violence against women industry", since men are not recognised as victims of violence by those who control the industry.
This industry has a multi-million pound turnover and provides a variety of career choices which appear to be expanding by the day, judging by the job advertisements in the national and local newspapers.
It is sustained by propaganda which bears no relationship to reality, e.g. that much-hyped dubious statistic that one in five men beat their wives or partners. Among those who have quoted this figure are Minister of State Mary Wallace - so obviously she believes that 27 of her TD colleagues, including 13 Fianna Fail TDs, beat their wives. This letter is not an attempt to trivialise the reality of domestic violence. Rather, it is an attempt to show how a genuine social problem can be hijacked by fanatics and careerists and exploited, with the help of compliant politicans, for their own ulterior motives. The cynical manner in which this issue has been used by misandrist feminists is doing untold damage to innocent people and our society generally.
If levels of domestic violence are anywhere near what is claimed, clearly the existing measures are exacerbating the problem rather than solving it. But any degree of success in dealing with the problem would ultimately lead to diminution of what is now an expanding multi-million pound industry and the careerists would never allow that - nor would the man-haters who now appear to control the feminist movement. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Stephens, Pineview Grove, Aylesbury, Tallaght, Dublin 24.