Male Abuse Victims

Abuse is a lack of control by a person who believes they can exercise dominance though humiliating, manipulating and controlling other people to get them to fear them or respect them. There is a growing concern of increased number of male victims of domestic abuse. Depending on the nature of a relationship, men can be abused by a female or male partner. Generally, domestic abuse can be physical emotional or mental and anyone can be a victim. In India, abuse of men is mostly physical and is associated with changing gender roles and relations guided by the power (Kumar, 2012).

Abuse is not limited to certain religions, persons or groups. 33.8% of women and 20.1% of men of 1,431 conservative Christian members in 49 churches reported physical abuse by their partners in a research at the Northwest region of the United States (Drumm, Popescu & Riggs, 2009) Physical abuse is characterized by actions that may result in bodily injury or physical pain for example beating, kicking, slapping. Embarrassing, insults, intimidation, belittling, denied access to socialize with others, criticism, false accusations and lowering one’s worthiness consists of emotional and mental abuse. Sexual assault can be physical mental or emotional.

The effects of male abuse are similar to those of women. One study shows that results of Intimate partner violence (IPV) on both men and women are similar in that they are physical and psychological ( Dutton, 2006) Abused men have low self-esteem, guilt, confusion, fear, embarrassment and low confidence and for these reasons most abused men may fail to speak up. For many years, global focus has been with men who abuse women in a domestic platform but not much emphasis has been placed on the abuse of men by women or fellow men yet it warrants attention.

There is a need for the society to recognize that abuse is illegal and immoral. We blame the media and some support groups for the lack of awareness of male abuse. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) statistic citations from 600 websites of Google omitted or misquoted facts on the number of abused men. For example, the New York Times’ article on NISVS does not indicate IPV against men (Rabin, 2011). Among 49.9% of men who sought help in DV agencies, 63.9% in DV hotlines and 42.9% online, we’re told the help is specifically for women. There are also assumptions by most criminal justice interventions and evaluations that men are more likely perpetrators of IVP (Dutton, 2007).

There is evidence that the figures for abused men are higher hostility in women have been high for the past several years. Result from a study of 457 college men and 958 college women, indicates that in the year 2006, the men abused were 35.4% as opposed to 26.0%(Cogan & Ballinger III, 2006). Another study in 2004 reported higher hostility levels towards partners in women(Cui, Lorenz, Conger, Melby & Bryant , 2005).A 2010 article reveals that the total number of deaths from domestic violence are higher in men than women when calculated from data of violent related suicides and homicides (Davis, 2010).

British Crime Survey statistics indicate that at least 400,000 men are abused annually making up a third of the domestic violence victims between 2004 and 2010. Between 2006 and 2007, 43.4% victims of partner abuse were though the figure rose to 45.5% between 2007 and 2008 in 2008 and 2009 it reduced to 37.7%. Home Office statistics show use of severe force of women to men was 48.6% in 2006 and 2007, 48.3% in 2007 and 2008 and 37.5% in 2008 and 2009. 30 to 40 percent of these domestic abuses are perpetuated by women. In the United Kingdom, the total figure of women sued for domestic abuse in 2004-05 was 1,575 but hiked to 4,266 in 2008-09 (Campbell, 2010).

In the United States, facts from the NVAW survey confirm that 40% of the IPV injuries in the past twelve months were initiated by females (Hines & Douglas, 2009).In the United Kingdom, there has been growing concern these women abusers also abuse children after statistics by NSPCC revealed that ’over 85% of women trust physical disciplining of children (Roberts, 2012). Besides this, one survey reveals that women perpetrators avoid arrests (Felson & Pare, 2007)

Another survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, among the men in the emergency room, thirteen percent claimed to have been abused by women in the preceding year (Angelucci).among these abuses 50% were hit with flying objects, stifled, thrust, bitten or punched (Angelucci).Another 37% were abused using a weapon while fourteen percent were critically injured and required to visit a hospital (Angelucci). In December 2011, the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) reported that in 2010, among victims of physical abuse, 41.7% were men. Of the 5,356,000 men abused, 42.3% (2,266,000) were severely violated (Hoff, 2012). NISVS findings show that 4.5 million men have been wounded and among them 1.8 million needed medical attention (Hoff, 2012).

A California State University study on 1000 female college students, 30% of the women confessed to have at one time violated their male partner for either not listening, being insensitive or to gain their attention (Angelucci).In a recent Journal of Family Violence, statistics indicate a high number of incoming calls from men claiming to have been severely abused by their female partners (Angelucci). A University of Washington research established that women are twice as likely as men to commit physical domestic abuse (Angelucci). Another report by University of Florida showed that there is a higher possibility for women to abuse, stalk or attack male partners than men would (Angelucci)

A study by Midwest Children’s Resource Center of 226 girls and 64boys of St. Paul Children’s Hospital between age ten and 15 disclosed that sexual assault on boys within 72 hours was more likely than in girls (Pappas, 2011). According to an estimate, one in every six men (16%) is abused before age 16 equating to2.6 million male victims (Pappas, 2011). A study of 3600 divorced German fathers revealed that 1/3 of the men were physically abused during the divorce process and out of them, 2/3 of the abuses were started by ex-partners (Amendt, 2008)

A report in the United States concludes that in every 71 men, one has been raped at a point in his life while 22 percent of men report to have been abused sexually in other ways not rape. In addition, five percent that one in every 19 men hasbeen stalked (Hoff, 2012). Also, 20,548,000 men (18.1%) and 16,578,000 (13.9%) women were subjected to psychological hostility in the last 12 months (Hoff, 2012). In the same year, among teenager reporting PDV victimization a year before the survey, 8.9% were males and 8.8% females (Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000) In conclusion, IVP (intimate partner violence) is prevalent in both male and women. Statistics show that male abuse is greater than women abuse. There is an indication of increased female hostility toward their partners a factor that has increased the number of women perpetuating domestic violence. Every individual has a role to increase awareness of male abuse and forward cases and perpetuators to avoid eradication of the male species by women.

Reference

Amendt, G. (2008). I didn’t divorce my kids! How fathers deal with family break-ups. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag Publishers.

Angelucci, M. E. (n.d.). Male Victims of Domestic Abuse. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/abusiverelationships/a/male_abuse.htmCampbell, D. (2010). More than 40% of domestic violence victims are male, report reveals. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/05/men-victims-domestic-violenceCogan, R., & Ballinger III, B. C. (2006).Alcohol Problems and the differentiation of partner, stranger, and general violence.Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21(7) 924-935

Cui, M., Lorenz, F. O., Conger, R. D., Melby, J. N., & Bryant, C. M. (2005).Observer, Self-, and partner reports of hostile behaviors in romantic relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 1169-1181

Davis, R. L. (2010). Domestic Violence-related deaths. Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research, 2 (2), 44-52

Desmarais, S. L., Reeves, K. A., Nicholls, T. L., Telford, R. P. & Fiebert, M. S. (2012a). Prevalence of physical violence in intimate relationships. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingentaconnect.com%2Fcontent%2Fspringer%2Fpa%2F2012%2F00000003%2F00000002%2Fart00003&ei=KC_HUKXfJLGhiAfi8YCoBA&usg=AFQjCNHomz8hlBDY0wT5zvrlIqPDZd275gDutton, D. G. (2007).Female intimate partner violence and developmental trajectories of abusive families.International Journal of Men’s Health, 6, 54-71.

Dutton, D. G. (2006).Rethinking Domestic Violence. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Drumm, R. D., Popescu, M., & Riggs, M. L. (2009).Gender variation in partner abuse.Findings from a conservative Christian denomination. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Faff.sagepub.com%2Fcontent%2F24%2F1%2F56.short&ei=cDDHUOiQKfCiiAfLroHIBg&usg=AFQjCNGG7a7-gy-jbNHXHeKjeFyRCTyXagFelson, R. B., & Pare, P. (2007).Does the criminal justice system treat domestic violence and sexual offenders leniently? Justice Quarterly, 24.

Kumar, A. (2012). Domestic violence against men in India: A Perspective. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 22, 290-296.

Pappas,S. (2011).Male Victims of Sexual Abuse Face Unique Challenges.Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.livescience.com/12909-senator-scott-brown-male-sexual-abuse-stigma.html.

Roberts, P. (2012).The day my wife beat me up because she hated my haircut.Retrieved December 11, 2012from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2091837/Male-domestic-violence-victim-The-day-wife-beat-hated-haircut.html.

Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000).Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncjrs.gov%2Fpdffiles%2F172837.pdf&ei=1jHHUOTYJOmfiAf9lYAQ&usg=AFQjCNEv_isT2VWFJTpNnDagdNIp3ioM7w