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Where domestic violence is concerned, women are a legally privileged class. People make fun of female-instigated violence, whether against boys or men, because they are uncomfortable about it, and it is taboo in our society.
When a woman molests a boy or beats up a man or boy, she is either portrayed as a victim herself, or else is in thrall to a female-specific psychological disorder. If Andrea Yates or Mary Winkler were men, they would both be in prison for a very long time.
This is one area where the right and left-wing feminists are aligned, and legislation such as VAWA and statewide laws allowing funding for shelters that only serve women are part of the reason why this myth persists - it's an industry that feeds off the feminist bigotry that spawned it in the first place.