Archer 2000 — Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners

What the study found

John Archer's meta-analytic review pooled many studies of physical aggression between heterosexual partners and separated two questions — who commits aggressive acts, and who is injured by them. It found that women were slightly more likely than men (d = -.05) to use one or more act of physical aggression, yet men were more likely to inflict an injury and 62% of those injured by a partner were women. ^[1]

Men were more likely (d = .15) to inflict an injury, and overall, 62% of those injured by a partner were women.

^[1]

Why it matters here

This meta-analysis is invoked on both sides of the manosphere debate over whether women commit half of domestic violence. Counted as discrete acts, partner aggression is close to symmetric, which is the real kernel behind the claim. But the same analysis shows that symmetry does not hold once harm is measured: men are more likely to cause injury, and nearly two-thirds of those physically injured by a partner are women. The study is therefore cited as evidence both that male victimisation is real and that domestic violence is not "50/50" in its consequences.