Domestic abuse at the hands of women is a serious, but
neglected issue. Domestic abuse does not
just include physical abuse but also other non-physical
forms of abuse such as
bullying. Men find it difficult to
report and challenge such abuse at the hands of their partners, and perhaps as
a result, it remains an issue that skims under the radar of public perception.
Incredibly new research by the U.K. Government, and reported
in the March issue of Therapy Today, shows
that young men are most at risk. In fact
young men are more at risk from their female partners, than young women are at
risk from theirs. The figures showed
that 6.4% of men in England and Wales between the ages of 20-24 say they were
victims over the last year, compared to 5.4% of women.
What these figures challenge is the cultural myth that men
are a danger to women: Clearly women can and do behave badly toward their male
partners.
My position is that physical and verbal abuse at the hands of
your partner is unacceptable, whether you are a woman, or a man. Unfortunately, although there are over 500
refuges for female victims of domestic abuse but only 12 for men. Sited in the same article, Mark Brooks from
the men’s health charity Mankind is quoted as saying “... services for men are
35 years behind those for women and that’s simply not good enough’. I agree.
Although the study did report that women are more likely to
be abused than men across the entire age range, the difference is only slight (2.2%
of women and 2% of men). Clearly there
is a lot of male suffering that is going unacknowledged. I can only imagine that the isolation that
that brings compounds the abuse, leaving men to feel not only abused, but powerless.
Dr Phil Tyson is a Men's Psychotherapist based in Manchester in the UK. He offers:
- Group therapy weekends for men in London and Manchester
- Beginners meditation weekend retreats for men in London and Manchester
- Counselling for men in Manchester
- Psychotherapy for men in Manchester
- Cognitive behavioural therapy for men in Manchester
- Telephone and online counselling for men wherever you live
- Mediation for conflict resolution at work in London
- Mediation for conflict resolution at work in Manchester and the North West
- Supervision and consulative support for therapists in Manchester
