Sir, – Your reader Paul Williams is offended by the term “toxic masculinity”, which was used during a recent murder court case. (Letters, October 1st).
He is incorrect in stating that a person’s sex should not be referred to in cases such as this. In fact, the Central Statistics Office records the perpetrators and victims of crime by sex.
Taking 2018 as an example, the statistics for violent sexual crime show a male perpetrator and a female victim in 79.8 per cent of cases; in 18.1 per cent of cases recorded, a male perpetrator and a male victim.
Since 1996, according to Irish domestic violence charity Women’s Aid, 236 women have been murdered violently here, and of these 55 per cent were murdered by a male partner or ex partner.
That is 130 women murdered in Ireland by a man known intimately to them.
I would be interested to know how your letter writer would like these facts relating to serious crime be described. Based on these official statistics, can he make out any connection between the sexes of the victims and the perpetrators?
– Yours, etc,
EMER FANNING,
Athenry, Co Galway.