Abuse awareness and types for men

Dalton Roberts, Reporter

Warning: this will talk about serious topics such as abuse and rape. 

The biggest issue in relationships today is abuse. While more women do speak up about abuse, men are less likely to get help in a terrible situation. Every year one in three victims of abuse are men, equating to 757,000, and 1 out of 7 men are likely to be abused in their lifetime. 

Abuse can be emotional such as degrading someone’s self-worth or dignity. It can also be physical, which means making someone feel physically unsafe. Examples include reckless driving, restraining your partner against their will, and attacking. Psychological abuse is pretending nothing happened or changing things slightly to make the partner question their sanity. Financial abuse is when the partner is not letting you have a job or controlling your bank account. Sexual abuse is when the male is raped or made to penetrate (MTP). 

Rape is any completed or attempted unwanted penetration of the victim through the use of physical force or when the victim was unable to consent due to being too drunk, high, or drugged (e.g., incapacitation, lack of consciousness, or lack of awareness) from their voluntary or involuntary use of alcohol or drugs.

MTB is like rape but is when a victim was made to, or there was an attempt to make them, sexually penetrate someone without consent

One in 4 men are raped in their life time. 87% of male victims of (completed or attempted) rape reported only male perpetrators. 1 in 14 men experience MTB. 79% of male victims of being MTP reported only female perpetrators. 97% of men who experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner had only female perpetrators.

Even with this information, men don’t know how to say they are victims or get out of domestic abuse. Men are more likely to be embarrassed by their abuse, making them less likely to report it. This is due to the society’s standards of men being stronger and more aggressive.  

Another anchor for a man in an abusive relationship is systematic abuse. This is when the woman/mother of a child will threaten that he won’t see his children again.  This makes the belief that no matter what the wife or girlfriend is doing that the judge will hand custody over to her. This limits what the guy can do to leave.

The best estimate of women arrested in a domestic case is 20%. This is even if the man has a more severe injury or when questioned separately, the man could still go away in cuffs. This is due to retaliation such as when the man goes and  move her out of the way of the door and she gets hurt. A way men can prevent this is by being in a room with two exits.

Documenting injuries is a good way to be on the safe side. This can be done by going to the doctor so there are reports. Even if they don’t ask what happened it is best to get pictures and documents if the situation goes to court.

On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men. 11% of male victims (7.2% of women) have considered taking their life due to partner abuse. The Mankind Initiative has seen an increase in calls regarding suicide ideation over the pandemic period.

48.8 percent of men experience emotional abuse, also known as psychological aggression, by an intimate partner. Emotional abuse is likely to cause less trust for people in the future. This can be another cause for men not going to anyone to get help because they won’t know who to trust. When you have no one to go to it lets the abuser get more control over your life. 

Philip Cook, author of Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence A review of the statistical evidence for husband abuse encompasses police reports, hospital surveys, a military survey, shelter surveys, and general population and national surveys. Based on this evidence, the author estimates that 2 million men a year in the United States are seriously assaulted by their mates, as are 1.8 million women. In other words, 3.8 percent of American husbands, or 1 out of 26, severely attack their wives, and 4.6 percent of wives, or 1 out of 22, severely attack their husbands. In their assaults, women are more likely than men to use weapons, particularly knives.

 

 If you are one of these people and need help call one of the below numbers

Violence Hotline (NDVH) at (800) 799-SAFE (7233) or the TTY (teletypewriter) line for the deaf: (800) 787-3224. The Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, year-round with live advocates who can answer questions, discuss safety options, and connect callers to resources in their local area. Every call to NDVH is anonymous.

 

 The Domestic Abuse Helpline can be reached from anywhere in the US and Canada, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling 1-888-7HELPLINE (1-888-743-5754).

 

sources

 

Help for Battered Men – WebMDhttps://www.webmd.com › … › Feature Stories

 

Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violencehttps://www.ojp.gov › ncjrs › virtual-library › abstracts

Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Violence, and Stalking …https://www.cdc.gov › men-ipvsvandstalking