{"id":15877,"date":"2019-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/muzi-ako-obete-nasilia\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T09:58:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T09:58:33","slug":"muzi-ako-obete-nasilia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/muzi-ako-obete-nasilia\/","title":{"rendered":"Men need help as much as women when it comes to victims of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE PROJECT TO HELP VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HAS BEEN COMPLETED.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Society is finally talking about how to address and prevent violence against women. But what if men have been caught up in the cycles of domestic violence and abuse? What form of help and support can be given to male victims?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The prevention and elimination of perpetrated violence - whether domestic violence or sexual abuse - is primarily focused on women. This is precisely because of the high statistics for female victims and the scope of the work of many organisations. However, we must not forget male victims either. Despite the fact that this is still a highly controversial topic, the issue of male victimhood and victimisation in society is also coming to the fore in our country.
\nThe Crisis Intervention Team (KIT) of the NGO ADRA Slovakia - based on human rights conventions and constitutional rights - declares the right of each and every person to a life free from violence. It does not forget men, who, like women, can find themselves in the position of the abused person, i.e. the victim. The experience gained and the monitoring of the development of society, as well as the results of foreign research, lead us to the need and decision to also help men as victims of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

What European research says<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The British Crime Survey for England and Wales, carried out at the end of the last century, showed that 23% women and 15 % men aged 16-59 had been assaulted by a current or former partner. Of these, 12 % women and 5 % men were repeatedly abused, with 41 % women and 31 % men even sustaining injuries. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey reports that male and female partner violence is comparable.
\nThe Cardiff Women Safety Unit, initially providing support to women at risk of domestic violence, became interested in male victims in 2005 - through the Dyn project.
\nBased on the findings of research into women's violence against male partners, carried out fifteen years ago by Equation (formerly called the Nottinghamshire Domestic Violence Forum), recommendations were made for the helping professions to work effectively with male victims of domestic violence.
\nAn analysis of police statistics on domestic violence in the North East of England after 2000, where a man was identified as being at risk of domestic violence, yields an unsurprising finding. Male victims tend not to seek counselling services to help victims of domestic violence and therefore do not take up the help offered. Where they were willing to accept the help and support offered, it was mainly practical advice (legal services, information on sheltered housing or safe accommodation, etc.). They refused crisis intervention or psychological therapy services.<\/p>\n

What does helping men look like<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The specific work with men consisted mainly of providing information on: Drawing up a safety plan; Contacting the police (if necessary); Legal aspects of violence and dealing with the situation or eliminating violence; Notifying child welfare authorities; Arranging housing, etc.
\nADRA KIT experts have worked with four male victims of violence in their practice so far. These were four cases of men experiencing violence from their partners, only one of whom was willing to accept psychological help. Three men refused psychological support and counselling, with one explicitly considering it a sign of his own failure in the relationship. This could later be used against him in court proceedings. Another man evaluated the psychologist's help as a failure of his own masculinity and did not acknowledge the need for psychological support from the position of his masculinity.
\nAll of us need help if we find ourselves in a situation that we cannot resolve on our own. And it doesn't matter if it is a man or a woman. The fact that the victim is a man is not a legitimate reason for him to deal with a difficult situation (which the violence he is experiencing undoubtedly is) on his own.<\/p>\n

It is not a failure of masculinity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It is not a personal failure if a man decides to take psychological help. But on the contrary, it is a personal victory that can help a particular man not only to deal with the traumatic experience itself, but also to live his life in a dignified way.
\nOur lawyer and head of KIT, Daniela Borzov\u00e1, concludes: \u201eIf you are a strong enough person, you can be successful in the litigation itself and you will break down the myths and prejudices that this society has set up against male victims. Overcoming one's own feelings of shame at losing one's masculinity means de jure the possibility of gaining custody of the child. You have succumbed to the abuse of a woman, i.e. an abusive partner, in the context of a partnership. A child should not be entrusted to an abuser (regardless of gender or sex). That is what I generally fight for - regardless of whether the client is male or female. It is the best interests of the child that I consider paramount.\u201c
\nKIT experts remind that \u201ethe more male victims come forward publicly with their problem and start to address it, the sooner the myths and prejudices that are still prevalent in our society - especially in the decision-making practice of law enforcement agencies and courts - will begin to be dispelled. It is undeniable that a man can also be a victim of both domestic and sexual violence. However, the victim cannot help himself, even if he is a man, so he should be determined to seek professional help. Everyone has the right to it.\u201c<\/p>\n

Text: the ADRA KIT team, Photo: ADRA and UN Women<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PROJEKT POMOCI OBETIAM DOM\u00c1CEHO N\u00c1SILIA BOL UKON\u010cEN\u00dd. V spolo\u010dnosti sa kone\u010dne hovor\u00ed o tom, ako rie\u0161i\u0165 a ako predch\u00e1dza\u0165 n\u00e1siliu p\u00e1chan\u00e9mu na \u017een\u00e1ch. No \u010do ak sa do cyklov dom\u00e1ceho n\u00e1silia a zneu\u017e\u00edvania dostali mu\u017ei? Ak\u00fa formu pomoci a podpory mo\u017eno poskytn\u00fa\u0165 mu\u017esk\u00fdm obetiam? Prevencia a elimin\u00e1cia p\u00e1chan\u00e9ho n\u00e1silia \u2013 \u010di u\u017e dom\u00e1ceho n\u00e1silia alebo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":15862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[292,293,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-novinky","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32878,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15877\/revisions\/32878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adra.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}