Men as Victims of Domestic Violence

1348 Words6 Pages
Thesis Statement: Men can be victims of domestic violence situations, just as women are. Introduction: Ask anyone to describe domestic violence and see what they say. I want everyone to close their eyes and imagine a situation that involves domestic abuse. What did you see? Most people would see a man hitting a woman. The typical answer one will hear is an instance of aggressive behavior, violence, or abuse whether it is psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional; and most would say that is usually against women. If one were to go to Google and type in anything about domestic abuse or even “men as victims in domestic violence situations”, the search would automatically pull up data, statistics, and pictures about women and their standings as victims. What does this say about our culture? Men and women having the same protection and services eliminates discrimination that comes with gender roles. This problem however, is hard to address, an issue not only for the victim but the community as well, and an issue of human rights. In my experience seeing these situations first hand I know that it is harder on men than it is on women. Transition- We will start off by discussing why it is so hard to address these problems men face when seeking help and what can be done to ensure that the problem itself is fixed. Body: I. Domestic violence among men is prone to being hidden or hard to address. In working in a Domestic Violence shelter, I have seen that male victims facing these situations are also facing hard times seeking help or speaking about the abuse they experience. A. Men are often treated as “second class victims” and are virtually invisible to many even though there is a bold line of 50% splitting the issue between men and women. B. This issue is overlooked by media, government, and official documents and reports. 1. Studies
Open Document