Intimate Partner Abuse of Men

With special guest:

• Dr. Greg Dear.

A groundbreaking report from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia has found that male victims of domestic violence can suffer from a unique form of legal/administrative abuse previously unidentified in research, as well as experiencing most of the same impacts as female victims.

The Intimate Partner Abuse of Men report, launched on 26th May in Perth, found that “Male victims of intimate partner abuse and their children suffer a range of consequences, such as psychological distress (including disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders), suicidal ideation, impaired self concept and loss of work.”

It found that male victims are often reluctant to disclose their experience of abuse or seek help because of their sometimes justified fears that they will not be believed, that they will not be assisted or will instead be blamed for the abuse.

The study recommends that government-funded public campaigns be conducted to raise awareness of domestic violence against men; that consideration should be given to providing publicly-funded services specifically for male victims; and that workers in health and welfare fields should be provided with training to assist them to recognise and respond effectively to male victims of domestic violence.

Today on Dads on the Air, we play an in-depth interview by the One in Three Campaign with Dr. Greg Dear. Greg is Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Psychology and Social Science at Edith Cowan University. He is the co-author, along with Professor Alfred Allan and Emily Tilbrook, of the Intimate Partner Abuse of Men report, commissioned by the Men’s Advisory Network.

In the interview, Greg discusses his research in detail, along with the implications of the research for services providers and the community at large. He says, “The first recommendation was that government funded public awareness campaigns be conducted to raise awareness of intimate partner violence against men. Such campaigns need to be very carefully designed to complement campaigns about family violence against women and children and not to damage the effectiveness of those campaigns.

“Because really, the key issue for the men was not only their own sense of shame and difficulty in admitting it to themselves that this is what is happening to them, but their perception, and quite likely an accurate perception, that other people wouldn’t understand what they’re going through or might not believe it or might not be supportive in their responses. Or even worse might even blame them.

“And I think one of the men actually made a comment along the lines of that one of the first people he disclosed it to said, ‘well what were you doing to make her do that to you?’ Now, all of us who work in the field know how wrong it is to say that to a female victim. But why did someone in the health service say that to a male victim?

“And another one of our recommendations is about training for people working in health and welfare and justice fields. But it really needs to start with a community awareness campaign that puts this conversation about this does happen to men, to some men. How do we understand it, what do we do about it, and to really put it out there as a topic of discussion in the general community the same way that violence against women and children is, because that frees up men to be able to talk about it themselves.

“It’s not going to suddenly, magically, you know, make men stand up in any public venue and say, ‘Hey, by the way, did you know what happening to me?’ Of course it’s a sensitive issue, but it was a major factor in preventing or delaying men disclosing their experience, the sense of this is something that’s not talked about, it’s not recognised, that no one would understand it, and the sense of shame and the sense of having failed as a man to have this happen to you.”

To read a transcript of the full interview with Dr. Greg Dear, click here.

Listen Now (MP3)