The concerns expressed by Bill Ralston about the failure of the “Its Not Ok campaign” and its focus illustrate that Ralston’s lack of analysis of family violence. A fuller investigation would enable him to locate Fergusson’s arguments within the body of family violence literature that overwhelmingly dismisses research arguing that women and men are equally perpetrators of family violence.

As mentioned by Brown - should Ralson wish to develop an understanding of family violence he can access specific information in a factsheet addressing the gendered nature of family violence and a wealth of surrounding literature at the New Zealand national centre for collation and dissemination of family violence literature and research – the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse at www.nzfvc.org.nz

The ‘It’s Not OK” campaign is widely acknowledged by community and government as helping to get family violence out in the open within Aotearoa-New Zealand. This success is best illustrated by the 29% rise in the New Zealand Police family violence statistics in 2008 with some 70,000 incidents reported to NZ Police.

Regards
Jessica Trask
Outreach Coordinator/Research
New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse