SUPER BOWL DAY ALSO HOLDS BIG DOMESTIC BATTERING FOR WOMEN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 29, 1993                   TAG: 9301290095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Medium
SUPER BOWL DAY ALSO HOLDS BIG DOMESTIC BATTERING FOR WOMEN
Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most widely anticipated days of the year for football fans. For women, it can be a day of dread, and, far too often, injury.
"There is significant anecdotal evidence that Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for domestic violence against women," Sheila Kuehl, former actress and managing lawyer of the California Women's Law Center, said Thursday.
"This game is terrifying for far too many women, and that has to stop."
Many women's shelters report as much as a 40 percent increase in calls for help on Super Bowl Sunday and the following Monday, Linda Mitchell of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting said at a news conference at the Rose Bowl, site of Sunday's game between the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys.
"The Super Bowl is significant because it draws attention to the fact that there is a cycle of violence in many relationships and that cycle has trigger points," said Patricia Occiuzzo Giggans of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women.
"The betting, the bonding and the beer for the men can turn into beating for women," she said.
Mitchell said she hoped pressure from the women's groups would convince NBC-TV to air a public service announcement against domestic violence during Sunday's broadcast.
Curt Block, vice president of media relations for NBC, said the network planned to broadcast the announcement during its pregame show. He said it would air at approximately 4 p.m.
The network stands to lose as much as $850,000 in advertising revenue by running the free, half-minute spot, Block said.
"We air [public-service annouceements] throughout our schedule on a variety of issues," he said by telephone from New York. "We think this is a very important issue for a very significant day."
Mitchell called on the media to use its resources to bring about change in society's attitude toward domestic abuse, which she said is the leading cause of injury to women nationwide.
"Domestic violence is one of the major issues in this country and it needs attention from the media," Mitchell said. "It's been ignored too long."
Kuehl said a study by sociologists at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., found that men are more likely to batter their partners after their favorite team wins.
The study found that police reports of beatings and hospital admissions in Northern Virginia rose 40 percent after games won by the Washington Redskins during the 1988-89 season, she said.
"They see violence rewarded on television, and some of them react as though that's an appropriate way to behave," she said.
The Los Angeles Police Department has reported an increase in felony domestic violence arrests during the past two Super Bowls.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB