Can Men Be Abused?

Yes, a resounding yes!!! Men can and have been abused for many years. Sadly they have often suffered in silence because of pride, ego, humiliation, and the fact that when they do speak up, they are seldom believed. Men are only now beginning to speak out on the violence perpetrated against them by their partners.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvfacts.htm

• A national study found that 29% of women and 22% of men had experienced physical, sexual, or psychological IPV (Intimate Partner Violence) during their lifetime (Coker et al. 2002).
• In 2002, 76% of IPV homicide victims were female; 24% were male (Fox and Zawitz 2004).
• In the United States every year, about 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner. This translates into about 47 IPV assaults per 1,000 women and 32 assaults per 1,000 men (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000a).

These numbers are staggering. We have become a more equal society with men becoming more prone to domestic violence with each passing year.

Domestic violence (DV), or IPV as it is called above, is becoming a male issue. Anyone, male or female, who is controlled through violence of any type, is a victim.

More men are coming forward to say they have been victimized, first by a partner and then by the legal system which more often sees them as the abuser than the abused. The legal system needs to take a hard look at the way they deal with this situation in the future. The police and the courts need to be aware that violence against a partner can happen no matter the sex. They need to delve deeper into the reports to assure themselves that they are placing guilt on the correct party in the relationship, rather than making a broad assumption that the woman is always the abused.

Domestic violence has predominately been viewed as a women’s issue in the past but that is slowly changing. It should be viewed as a human issue. Violence, whether against men or women, needs to be seen as a crime and punished by law.

Remember, abuse, no matter who is the victim, is a crime.

For more information about this issue please see: http://www.batteredmen.com/
© 2007 Connie Roush All Rights Reserved.