RECOGNITION OF MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE IN SCOTLAND AND WALES IMPROVES

Back in December, the site commented on events in Scotland regarding the campaign and petition led by Alison Waugh and Jackie Walls for the Scottish Government to support male victims.

On the 26th of January, the issue was discussed in the Scottish Parliament and was also featured in the media (BBC, Scotsman and The Sun) and it is clear that the Petitions Committee gave those speaking a fair hearing but also treated them with good grace. They have asked the Scottish Government to respond.

Earlier this month, a Women's Aid organisation in Wales realised that equality means equality when male victims are also supported. De Gwynedd Women's Aidis changing its name to De Gwynedd Domestic Abuse Service from April to ensure it is clear that it helps male victims. Three cheers to that. The ManKind Initiative put a submission into the Welsh Assembly's consultation on this issue (updated ManKind web-site) and as there is no more information, there does not seem to be a response to the consultation yet from the Welsh Assembly.

So progress in Scotland and Wales, but silence in England, only a strategy aimed at women and girls. We need a General Election.

By The Original Editor who thanks John for his help in continuing the site while I had a few things to sort out.We have two direct contributors now which is great.

 

Comments

[John Kimble]

Let be fair here - the treatment of DV victims in Scotland is even more shameful than in England. The content of that consultation is a quite brilliant resource and really well worth reading, but historically the government and opposition there have both been very hostile to male vicitms so I wouldn't be too optimistic as nothing has actually changed yet.

Correspondingly, Wales has been ahead of the game for sometime now and as a result cracks really are starting to appear in Women's Aid power control over there.

[Scott Riddell]

I have recently left a relationship in which I was the victim of domestic abuse both physical and emotional which went unreported by me for many years, the abuse often happened in front of my children.
My breaking point was with the last bout of "physical abuse" this occurred while I had my 2 year old daughter in my arms, which was the most frightening thing for both of us to endure. The police were called and promptly arrived, when questioned about what had happened I told them that I had to physically restrain her, NOT hit her, for the sake of my own safety and more importantly that of my little girl. In saying this I was cautioned & handcuffed in front of my little girl, worse when I complained I was forced to the floor before the handcuffs were applied, then taken from my home and detained in a police cell for more than 8 hours, I was released at 4am and told that I was not allowed to return to my family home for at least 24hrs or I would face arrest. The police later said that I looked like a "big man" who had the look of someone that could potentially cause them problems should the situation become heated also that I would be more than able to protect myself where as my partner would not, even though I was the one bloodied and visibly shaken by the ordeal.
Trying to reach out get help for me and my children resulted in me being the focus and force of the law, it seems just because I am a 6'+ well built male it would not be conceivable that I could be the victim.
I later received an apology from the officers involved in my arrest when the truth of the situation was revealed, which I have to say makes me feel no better about my treatment in this most horrific situation.
Now I have difficulty in being with my children, the sad truth is that the law unfortunately sides with the female and even though there is a report and now active case I have to "live with" whatever my ex partner does or says regardless of how openly wrong it is.
The whole system is sick. No wonder men don’t talk….

[brett ratcliff]

hello, i am a third year law student looking at the law and male victims of domestic violence, for my dissertation, and i would like to use ur stories to show that the application of the law is sexist, and ur stories would really help, my email is [email protected]

[Research Methodology]

it's good to see this information in your post, i was looking the same but there was not any proper resource, thanx now i have the link which i was looking for my research.

[Bea]

Hi all
I am third year social work student and doing dissertaion on Male victims of DV. I am struggling to find researches which were done in UK. Please help.

[Groan]

Hi Bea

Dr. Nicola Graham Kevan and Prof. Archer are leaders in this research at University of Lancashire. http://www.uclan.ac.uk/schools/psychology/research/aggression_research.php

There are small scale studies and evaluations from AMEN,Dyn,Men's Advice Line and AMIS in Scotland. AMIS also have a collection of research reports in Scotland. Mankind has hosted conferences on this topic and has helped students with their research. Esteem also has done some work about men contacting its help line. The Mens Network in Brighton has a collection of research and published an overview and if you are able their National Conference would be worth attending. Dewar research has downloadable analysis of Home office data etc. Most of these are listed on the links to the right on this page. The One in Three campaign is an Australian site with lots of info and some of this is publishe Uk research.

After many years I think the key lessons are:

Sporadic violence between partners is frequently mutual and more frequently initiated by women. This is unsurprising as research on social attitudes indicate stronger social disaproval of male to female violence than the reverse. Men are also very much less likely to regard this as a crime against them or abuse. For perfectly logical reasons women are much more likely to use a "weapon" in their assaults.
Persistent long term abuse is very much rarer and frequently associated with other problems,addiction,crime,poverty and mental health problems. Such cases can be very long term and the couples will often be "known" to agencies due to the related issues (alcohol,addiction,criminal activity,being in care etc) Again in such cases there is an "equality" in initiation but there is generally a greater chance females wil be more hurt phsycially and emotionally than men.

In fact the biggest gender divide is in the social and hence institutional response. Men are very much less likely to seek help or report their abuser. And this is mirrored in the response of the key public agencies who are much less likely to be professional in their response to men reporting abuse or seeking protection.Just as the men themselves are less likely to view their treatment by a partner as a crime so public bodies are less likely to interpret the same actual behaviour in the same way from a man as woman. So research indicates abuse of men is very much less likely to be reported to the police or other public bodies.

In the same way ,in general ,men prefer to sef help rather than seek help; from the research there seems to be a strong case to increase services proactively offering advice, advocacy support and guidance to men (gay or straight by the way) and an increase in support for housing men with children (there being practically no refuge type services for men fleeing with their children). men seeking help to be housed currently are effectively discriminated against if they are fleeing abuse so there needs to be strong changes to guidance for housing departments. One result of this is not only are women less likely to be caught and prosecuted but there are few services to support women who want to change abusive behaviour.

Fortunately students are taking more interest in this area and you will find the organisations listed try to help as they have usually started from grass roots need being faced by indiference by official bodies. They want more information to be gained as it attracts lttle research funding at the moment.

Best of luck with your work.