The Male: Not just the batterer, but also a victim

In the story of domestic violence the characters have always been identified in the following manner: the female is the victim and the male is the batterer.  As a result, there is an abundant amount of research that looks at the effects that domestic violence has on females and this research has led to the creation of many support groups for this population. This is all fine and good because it is important to look at how domestic violence can affect the female victim, but why are we only focusing our attention on the female character of this story? What happens when the roles change?  If the victim is the male and the batterer is the female, does the male get the same help and attention?

This may sound strange, but this role change occurs more often than you think. Approximately 25-50% of males go through this role change. These numbers are for the United States alone, and do not reflect any other nation.  So if the percentage is this high for male victims in one nation, then why is there such little research done?  Can it be that we have stereotyped the gender roles in this type of situation?

Male victims go through a different type of domestic violence.  These victims suffer from intimate terrorism (IT) – a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is characterized by intense violence and manipulative behaviors.  As a result these individuals have been classified as part of the common couple violence (CCV) – this form of IPV is normally classified as: lower level of abuse. There is limited amount of work done that explores the victimization of males in a domestic violent situation.  Domestic violence is a two way street, and males face two different issues when reporting domestic violence.  One issue is that they do not report their current victimization in the abusive relationship, and two is that there seems to be little to no assistance for the male victims after reporting the abuse by their spouses. Some research has shown that alcohol consumption is one of the outreaches that many males take when being victimized in an abusive relationship. There is also an increase of drug abuse, and medication abuse as a way to cope with the abuse at home. Other researchers have found that there are some levels of discrimination within the judicial system that make the male victims not want to report their abuse or get a restraining warrant against their female abuser. This is because some judges see this type of abuse as the lowest level of domestic violence. Another problem that male victims face in seeking help is the very limited amount of resources that are available to them. In some cases, it is suggested that these victims should join a female support group due to the lack of resources. Finally, we see that even in the LGBT community there are other obstacles that the male victims face. In a relationship where both members are male and domestic violence is present, the male victim gets little to no support due to the stereotype that we all have developed for the roles of the batterer and the victim.  This means that the victim does not fit the “typical” role of the victim.

It is important that another look is taken in the way we view the roles in domestic violence.  As expressed, there is not much work done with the male victims of domestic violence. Organizations should also look at this population and provide services for these individuals.  As therapists it would be a great benefit to obtain additional training in working with all domestic violence victims, and having an understanding of the different struggles that the male victims have to endure. There needs to be more awareness so that when a domestic violence situation is brought to attention, there is not the assumption that the victim can only be one specific gender.