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Tara Anderson

Mrs. Granville

Period: 5

11 November 2016

The Male Victims of Domestic Violence

Women have been given the spotlight of being domestically abused throughout history,

making little known about the other side of abuse. Domestic Violence can be defined as a pattern

of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an

intimate partner. Abuse is physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or

threats of actions that influence another person. Men have been victims of domestic abuse just as

much as women have been abused. They need to be protected and seen as victims of domestic

abuse no matter the gender.

It is not hard to see what domestic abuse is, unless you look at them by what their

genitals are. Women have been seen as victims of domestic abuse for however long, however,

men have been put to the side and told to keep quiet. One source says, the percentage of women

who physically assaulted a male partner is as high or higher than the percentage of men who

physically assaulted a female partner (Women are as Likely as Men to Abuse a Partner). For

those, a lot of the time it is hard to swallow that men do get hit and that can not protect

themselves. However, the point is not to be said that women don't get abused and that they are

less important, but it is that men are getting abused and hit and that there is little being done

about it. A source document from Female Violence Against Men is a Serious Problem it reads,

women are more likely to use knifes, guns, or other weapons against men, thereby causing that
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are more frequently more severe in abused men than in battered men. To say it doesn't happen

or that it isn't that severe is part of the problem and why nothing has changed with the matter.

Why this issue doesnt seem like a big deal is, one of the factors is that men aren't reporting the

abuse. Not reporting the abuse can cause data collection on such topics to be in a way untrue

because of the lack of reports. Other sources have said that The decrease in severe abuse by

wives as reported by their husbands, which is inconsistent with the wives responses, might have

reflected men's reluctance to admit they have been victims of abuse. (The Prevalence of

Domestic Abuse). Men are becoming more and more hesitant to come forward in such positions.

The trap people can get tangled in is just as bad for women as for men. Data is very important in

these kinds of cases, which shouldn't have to be said. Women can and do assault their partner. A

lot of women tend to see this as normal but in fact it is illegal, no matter the gender. It does not

matter if someone is being slapped, kicked, hit, or even screamed at and being degraded, this is

abuse. Even though they are a woman doing this to a man it is not acceptable and one should be

punished for it. In Battered Men Sounding Equal-Rights Battle Cry it states, ...we want

equality, let the cell doors slam shut behind women just as they do on men. Equality is not so

easily achieved like this when law enforcement itself are also against the protection of men.

In Salem there was a woman who was convicted of abusing and sexually assaulting her

husband over a long period of time and yet people looked at it with a crooked neck. Why?

Because her victim was man (Local Male Victims Prove Domestic Violence Does Not

Discriminate) The acts of crime itself does not discriminate but law enforcement surely does. A

case that involved a man named, Mr.Gillard reads, that at one point he was arrested and charged

with domestic assault even though he was pushed and his wife threw hot coffee at him. Never
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did he retaliate against his former wife and yet he was still arrested (Battered Men Sounding

Equal-Rights Battled Cry). The law is constantly defending women and punishing men yet few

never see it the other way around. Imagine someone is walking down the street and someone

decides to punch them in the face, they keep hitting and hitting. Finally they hit back to defend

themselves and the police show and arrest the victim! They try to tell them what happened but

the other person said that they hit them first and the police believe the other person over the

victim because they are a women and the victim was a man. This is how the law treats men when

it comes to domestic abuse. The law does not help with their partners to stop assaulting them,

often punishes the male for hitting back and a lot of the time treats the victims as a joke (Battered

Men Sounding Equal-Rights Cry). This is not positive reinforcement for a victim to come

forward with such abuse. Many say that they should just leave the relationship if they are being

abused, and they have trouble defend themselves without being seen as the abuser. However,

men in a divorce already have a slim chance of having the upper hand in such situations. Usually

in divorces, women get the children and, rather than risking their wives get children they would

rather take the abuse day in and day out (Female Violence Against a Serious Problem). Not only

is the law against male victims of abuse but also the shelters that are supposed to help domestic

violence victims are useless to these men.

The organizations should accommodate all genders, and all situations. One organization

states, Our approach to serving men is similar to how we serve women. The dynamics around

the relationship, about power and control are the same. (Local Male Victims Prove Domestic

Violence does not Discriminate). This statement is true on many levels. These kinds of acts do

not discriminate, no matter the gender. People need to look at it as it is: abuse. A domestic abuse
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corporation (RADAR) has said that ...men are recipients of domestic violence as often as

women are. This corporation has been helping men, finding them jobs after being abused,

finding them places to stay, giving them life after such abuse from someone they once trusted

and loved. An abusive relationship is very toxic and often hard to escape from. For men, it can

be even more toxic and mentally more abusive, as said in Understanding Domestic Abusers,

...when men don't report incidents to police, they usually say it's because they see it as a private

or personal matter some male victims want to protect the partner who assaulted them. Society

has programmed men to believe that they should keep what's going on in their house private and

that if there is something going on that they should be able to handle it. The thought of their

partner in prison for them coming forward about the domestic abuse, can be detrimental to their

choice in the matter. They love their partner yet the abuse is heartbreaking. If only there were

shelters that catered more to men or at least equally to men as they do for women. In one

situation a man had made 70 calls before finding one organization that would help him (Local

Male Victims Prove Domestic Violence does not Discriminate). This kind of situation is caused

from abused women being in shelters who do not feel comfortable or could cause conflict with

men (who have also been abused), making it hard for shelters to want to accept men. Its

understandable, yet unfair. While shelters look at female victims of abuse, men are having to stay

in such situations. In a book called Violence and The Family it reads, Physical Violence

results in broken bones, concussions, permanent brain damage psychological violence

threats of bodily harm, depriving of money, clothing, transportation controlling spouse

sexual violence abuse of genital area or forced sexual relationships. The thought of being in

such a harmful place is scary to think of. The protection for these people should be easily
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accessible, but it isn't if he is are a man. These results of domestic abuse can be fatal if not taken

care of. It should also be known that men can be and are sexually abused and should not be taken

as some joke. If hearing the results do not affect someone, the statistics of male domestic abuse

just might.

If one makes jokes about male victims of such matter it just might shame them into

keeping quiet about it. In The Prevalence of Domestic Violence it said that when these cases of

domestic violence are not reported, it is impossible to be certain how many domestic assaults

happen each year. This causes a fear in researchers that there is a deeper meaning behind it that

they have yet to find, as they put, it available data represents only the tip of the iceberg of a

problem of glacial proportions. Not taking action now means that the problem could only get

worse and that it might just become socially acceptable for women to hit a man, and the man not

have any way to protect himself. A study reported in Women are as Likely as Men to Abuse a

Partner says, ... 79% of partner homicides perpetrated by men were reported, compared to 50%

of the partner homicides perpetrated by women. No wonder people have come to the conclusion

that women are the majority of victims when the majority of people that report it are female

victims. Not only that but less people talk about, it is said that the mean of 3.5 articles are written

of women killed by a male partner compared to 1.7 articles of men killed by a female partner

(Women are as Likely as Men to Abuse a Partner). When women are the main topic and reported

on more often than men, it is only logical that people only really see women being victimized.

Not only are the men being abused not talked about, but the injuries reported are greater than

women. In Female Violence Against Men is a Serious Problem, it is said that men suffered

more severe injuries than women did in such domestic violence cases. 74% of the men that
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reported a domestic violence problem had some sort of injury, compared to women which

averaged out at about 57%. Within the same source it says, ...in the most severe category the

number of women being assaulted has declined, from 2 million to 1.8 million while the number

of men assaulted has stayed at 2 million. Surely one of the reasons why the number for women

has gone down is because of the assistance for them, the help they receive, and the punishment

their abusers receive also. If only men were given the same help maybe the number for men

would go down also. Overall, the problem is still prevalent and should be given attention to find

a solution.

Men have been victims of domestic abuse just as much as women have been. They need

to be protected and seen as victims not as men that just can not block a hit. While women are

always being seen as the victims in domestic abuse, men are being abused just as much if not

more than women are. We need to encourage and help men get out of these abusive relationships

and stop seeing domestic abuse as a problem for just one gender. Talking about male victims of

domestic abuse should not take away from the fact that women are still getting abused, but it

should help the overall community of people that are affected by this situation. The rights of

protection should be given to all genders in need of rescuing from domestic abuse in hopes of

making it known that men do get abused and that they do need help could potentially decrease

acts of domestic abuse.

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Works Cited

Berger, Glinda. Violence and the Family Franklin Watts, 1990.

Cook, Philip W. Female Violence Against Men is a Serious Problem. Domestic Violence,

edited by Tamara L. Roleff, Greenhaven Press, 2000, Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

GALE|EJ3010126215. Accessed 17 Oct. 2016.

Doak, Melissa J. The Prevalence of Domestic Violence. Child Abuse and Domestic Violence,

edited by Gale, 2007, Opposing Viewpoints in Context, GALE|EJ3011710106. Accessed

3 Nov. 2016.

Florin, Karen. Local Male Victims Prove Domestic Violence does not Discriminate. The Day

Magazine, 27 March 2016, www.theday.com/article/201260327/NWS01/160329256. 29

Oct. 2016.

Lewin, Tamar. Battered Men Sounding Equal-Rights Battle Cry. New York Times Magazine,

20 April 1992,

www.nytimes.com/1992/04/20/us/battered-men-sounding-equal-rights-battle-cry.html. 29

Oct. 2016.

Preface to Is the Law Effective in Dealing with Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence,

edited by Mike Wilson, Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

GALE|EJ3010126157. Accessed 31 Oct. 2016

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Straus, Murray A. Women Are as Likely as Men to Abuse a Partner. Family Violence, edited

by Debria Bryfonski, Greenhaven Press, 2013, Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

GALE|EJ3010045257. Accessed 20 Oct. 2016.

Understanding Domestic Abusers. New york State, 2016,

www.opdv.gov/professionals/abusers/gender/andipv.html, Accessed 25 Oct. 2016