Male victims of domestic violence - attitudes towards the UK public services and organisations available to them
Introduction
This research proposal will aim to expand on the knowledge and understanding of domestic violence regarding female on male violence by inquiring into victim interactions with the public services and other organisations available to them, such as charities and shelters. Adopting a mixed-method approach, it will combine semi structured interviews with an online self-completion survey. The sample for this will be obtained through the survey, using a snowball method to acquire participants.
Context (Literature review)
Domestic violence is cross-governmentally defined as
“any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been,
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Supporting this is the Channels 4 Dispatches revealing that the police would normally extract the male out of the situation when they were clearly the victim, as well as arresting 25% of males who actually contacted them about the abuse, indicating clear bias towards gender (‘Battered Men: Hidden Lives’, 2006).
With evidence to support gender symmetry between men and women abuse rates, it has questioned why male victims are not adequately treated by public services and discussion around there being too little help for male victims of domestic violence. For this reason and the fact there is such little research done on the topic, this will be the aim for the research proposal. Although there has been research done on attitude towards police, none of this has been on a national scale, nor using the same research method (Lambert,
In the defense and critique part of the debate the yes side said men are at least as likely as women to be victims of domestic assaults that lead to injury and pain. In defense, the no side said men inflict more serious injuries than women. However, research by the yes side states that consistent with victimization rates the results here suggest that women inflict serious injuries at least as frequently as men (Arriaga, & Oskamp, 1999). The yes side also stated men are considered more violent, because of underreporting. This is because if men report being hit or injured by a woman they will be considered less masculine, and wimpy. Police are also less likely to arrest a
Domestic violence, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on
It is also stereotyped that a man is the one to be the abuser. This is not true. Men are almost equally abused or taken advantage of. “Historically there has been a culture of permission that accepts and condones violence against women” (Dr. Jerkins, White, Joseph). As a society we live by this. Thinking it only a man who is an abuser when naturally domestic violence can and is sometimes a mutual on going. A women slapping and throwing things is more
This essay will critically analyse the significant changes that have occurred within domestic violence which is viewed as a vital subject within the criminal justice system. It will explore the way that domestic violence has progressively become a concerning issue in the criminal justice system from being relatively acceptable in recent history. In addition to this, the essay will explore legislation changes in relation to domestic violence and how the police have arguably been forced to change their attitudes towards a problem that was once thought of as a private regard. It will critically analyse the theories put forward as to why domestic violence occurs in today’s society. It will explore the weaknesses within the criminal justice system, especially the police in regards to domestic violence, the police previously viewed domestic violence as a matter of which they should not get involved. However as mentioned in the essay, after many reviews within the system, many improvements have been made to help protect the victim.
The resource chosen is to identify and build awareness for a public health need to highlight the prevalence of domestic abuse against men. It is known that women are subject to Domestic Abuse, but Du-Plat Jones (2006) argues recent statistics
Statistics are still proving that men are still known to be the abusers many more times than woman. “In 2007, crimes by intimate partners accounted for 23 percent of all violent crimes against females and 3 percent of all violent crimes against males.” (The National Center for Victims of Crime, 2011) Many may suspect that the reason that it seems like men are less likely to be abused is because of the gender and the masculinity, compared to the body types of women and the fragility. Despite the gender aspects, there are cases of domestic violence when it was individuals of the same sex. Same sex relationships have about the same frequency of occurrences as to heterosexual relationships.
Men are also abused by female partners. However, domestic violence against males is not always acknowledged (Lewis and Sarantakos, 2001) and little is known about the numbers of men who are abused or treated violently by their partners. Many of the effects of abuse are the same for men as for women. They are likely to feel deeply ashamed, frightened, experience a loss of self-worth and confidence, feel isolated, guilty and confused
Within the first section, Stanko addresses four violent crimes that are exerted by men– incest, rape, wife battering and sexual harassment. Stanko draws comparisons between victimised women in Great Britain and in the United States. Additionally, she refers to women of different ages, different financial standings and different ethnicities concluding that “no woman is immune from men’s intimidating, threatening or violent behaviour” (p.1). However, she makes the distinction that the violence women encounter may differentiate based on factors such as ethnicity, class, religion or age. However, Stanko outlines that sexual intrusions are a commonality and are a feature of every woman’s life “the sexually harassing comments, the slap on the face, the grab on the street” (p.1) are familiar acts. This is reflected in the work of Rhode (2014) who as a contemporary criminologist makes an extensive explanation of how male violence is still a common occurrence as stated; “the
Intimate partner violence includes the physical, sexual, or psychological harm brought unto someone by a current or former partner. While both males and females can be targets of abusive relationships; women are more likely to report cases of intimate partner violence to the police. Based on reports, the rate of women targeted is significantly higher than the percentage of men. Intimate partner violence may occur in all countries, cultures, religions, and socioeconomic groups throughout the world. Underreporting is a huge issue in our society, which stems from aspects such as cultural views, the presence of children, a lack financial support/help, myths associated with intimate partner violence, patriarchy, and strain theory.
Only twenty years ago, domestic violence was seen as a private family matter rather than of public community concern. During the 1960’s and 70’s, second wave feminism and the Battered Women’s Movement highlighted the problem of family violence to the fore, where individuals assisted victims by providing shelter for women and children and taking political action to advocate the hidden societal causation of the violence; gender inequality. The social issue up until this stage had little to none empirical knowledge, theoretical explanations were not exposed and social workers were not effectively trained to assist with the problem. Family violence initially occurs at a micro level within the home, but is a much larger macro issue. Domestic violence
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) led to mandatory arrests of the alleged abusive partner, yet there lacks a similar for male victims. Further, the VAWA provides free counsel to women, yet men must find and pay for their own legal counsel. Furthermore, a study conducted exhibited that when male victims attempted to domestic violence hotlines, 64% were told that they hotlines aided women only, 32% were referred to batterers’ program (which helped men stop abusing their partners), and 25% were given a number for a batterers’ program. Further, 16% of males indicated that they were simply made fun of and/or dismissed by the
Many of the violence against men are not recognized because police and hospitals are only trained to look for violence against women (Cook, 2004). If they see a man with a black eye, they think it's because he was in a fight with another man. In fact, it seems that no one wants to hear about male victims. To the public, they are an embarrassment and threaten the validity of the stereotype that the majority of men are violent and aggressive. Sometimes they are blamed for being the victims or the violence against them is justified in a variety of ways (Flor, 1999). As a culture we prefer to make the male victims the subject of humor and banter, not offer them help.
In the text “Male domestic abuse victim: men are scared to come forward” Nomia Iqbal a presenter and newsreader for BBC 5 live - the BBC's national radio service that specializes in live news, phone-ins, exclusive interviews and sports commentaries, has reported “Mark Kirkpatrick was found on a street in Lancashire seven months ago after his former partner Gemma Hollings attacked him with a pole, hammer and a glass bottle.”. Iqbal said that Mark still bears the scars on his face and body. Her position is important, because states the fact that men aren’t the only predator in the relationship. I think that men tend to be afraid women, because women threaten men with their children and with weapons. In the text “Help for Abused Men” Melinda Smith a M.A., Senior Editor, has a master's degree in psychology and over 15 years of experience as a health writer and editor, states that an abusive wife may hit, kick, bite, punch, spit, throw things, or destroy your possessions to make up for any difference in strength. Smith claims that women may attack you while you're asleep or catch you by surprise. Her position is important, because she shows that women tend to use weapons, because they aren’t strong enough. Less and less men are reporting female violence against men, because women threaten them with their own
The writer will further assess the possible impact of domestic abuse upon the individuals in the scenario. She will significantly appraise the different support networks and resources that are obtainable foe people living in domestic abuse situations and finally identify which resources that may be significant for the individuals in the scenario. According to Victim Support (VS, 2017) stated that in 2017, the police recorded about 464,886 domestic abuse cases and it indicate 10% increase in 2016 between England and Wales. In reference to VS
In 2012/13, figures from England and Wales confirm that domestic violence is of significant importance both in the domestic and international law. It showed that "there were 1.2 million female and 700,000 male victims of domestic abuse. The data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales suggests that thirty percent