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Abuse Against Men

I remember my first talk with a group of teenagers that wasn't just girls. There weren't many boys, maybe three or four, but when I gave statistics about women in abusive situations, I got questions I hadn't really expected: what about men? At the time, I wasn't very sure. Most places didn't give the number of men abused, or else said that it wasn't very clear as men don't report as often. Still, I felt bad that I wasn't able to give anything clear and decided from there on to try to give a better overall look at abuse, further including that facts about abuse against men.

Did you know where 1 in 3 women are abused physically, the statistic is nearly the same with 1 in 4 men? The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) website provides statistics such as this on both men and women. When I looked for more sources on domestic violence / abuse against men, a few different websites that it wasn't always easy to identify-- but all of the signs are the same as abuse that's against women. Things such as namecalling, threats, physical violence... There's nothing different about abuse against men, so why is it 'hard' to identify? Well-- if you take a look at the video I've shared, you might get an idea. The show, The Doctors, set up hidden cameras to catch the reaction to two scenes: a scene of a man abusing a woman and the scene of a woman abusing a man. The reactions are shockingly different-- and maybe that is why people seem to think abuse against men is hard to catch or else say it is non-existent.

The Hotline shared four points that contribute to why men do not seek help and do not report their abuse. These are: men are socialized in order to show their feelings or perceive themselves as victims, stereotypes say that women-- not men-- are victims, abuse of men is often seen as a joke (as in the video), and many men believe that there are not many resources for male victims of abuse. If you'd like to read more on this article, you can find it here! This is a topic I hope to talk more about in the future, but given this isn't exactly in my own personal experience, I really hope to be able to read more into men's experiences in abuse and cover myths surrounding domestic abuse against men.

If you know any organization (scouts, church, etc.) that would like to have me speak on Teen Dating Abuse, please contact me through my website here with your email address. To keep up with updates on this blog please feel free to hit the subscribe button in the top right corner to be alerted to new posts every Monday. Have something you would like to know more about in the future? Leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer right away! Remember, the first step in solving the problem of teen dating abuse is awareness!
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