Family violence: Men are victims too

NZ Herald 10 May 2016
Family First Comment: An inconvenient truth….
“I guess I kept it private because it was embarrassing. I eventually talked to a few close friends around the time we separated. They were shocked.” He spoke out in a bid to highlight the fact that while it was mostly women represented in the family violence statistics, men were not immune to abuse. “Abuse towards men happens as well, it’s not ok – just as it’s not ok for men to hit women.”

When you think of family violence, chances are you imagine the abuser as a male.
In most cases, you’d be right.
In most cases the victim of intimate partner violence is a woman. In most cases her children see her being physically, sexually or psychologically abused by her husband, partner or ex.
But we must not forget that men are also abused in their homes.
According to the Ministry of Justice men’s experiences as victims of family violence are often different from women. In a public discussion document published to support Justice Minister Amy Adams’ review of family violence laws, the difference between the genders was explained.
“Male victims of intimate partner violence tend to report that they ar not living in an ongoing state of fear from the perpetrator and experience violence that is far less severe than in male-to-female violence,” it said.
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