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Male victims of domestic violence struggle to disclose abuse
Men who experience domestic violence and abuse often don't seek help until the problem becomes a crisis, researchers say.
www.reuters.com
"... Men who experience domestic violence and abuse often don’t seek help until the problem becomes a crisis, researchers say.
Men tend to worry they would not be believed, or that they would be perceived as less masculine if they reported abuse, their analysis found.
Alyson Huntley and colleagues at the University of Bristol reviewed 12 previous studies of male victims of domestic abuse or violence. The studies, conducted between 2006 and 2017, used data gathered mostly from interviews.
In a report in the journal BMJ Open, Huntley’s team outlined universal themes that describe why these men don’t readily seek help.
Fear of disclosure was a central theme.
“The issue of masculinity is a societal one - men are not expected to be the weak ones. It is a hard stereotype to work against,” Huntley told Reuters Health via email.
Along with fearing they wouldn’t be believed or would be seen as weak, men often stayed in abusive relationships because they felt committed to or concerned about their partners. In other cases, they were too depressed, despondent or traumatized to gather the strength to leave.
Furthermore, victims were often unaware that services for them existed. And when they did know about interventions, they didn’t believe the interventions were likely to be helpful. Some of the findings suggest that separate services are needed for men. Portraying domestic violence services as a space for women survivors can be a barrier to help-seeking by men, the authors point out."
