Help-seeking and needs of male victims of intimate partner violence in Portugal.

Abstract

A large body of research clearly indicates that men are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, in Portugal, the phenomenon of male victims of IPV remains hidden and is not a target of research, public policy, or social attention. This exploratory study analyzed the prevalence of victimization, help-seeking behaviors, and needs of 89 men who defined themselves as victims of IPV. Men reported that they had been the victims of at least 1 abusive behavior by their current or former female partner. Psychological violence, followed by physical and sexual violence, was the most frequently reported experience. The majority of the men did not seek help because of difficulty in self-identifying as victims, shame, and distrust of the support system. When they did seek help, informal sources, such as friends and family, were used more often than formal sources. In terms of formal support, victims used health professionals and social/victim support services more than any other type. The male victims evaluated the formal resources (e.g., social/victim support services, police, justice system) as unhelpful. A mediation model showed that both frequency of physical violence and self-reported impact of IPV predicted help-seeking, with impact of IPV partially mediating the association between physical IPV and help-seeking. The results indicate the difficulties that men have in recognizing themselves as victims of abuse, their reluctance to seek help, the barriers they face, and their heterogeneous and idiosyncratic needs. The implications regarding masculinity, the help-seeking system, and public policy are discussed.

Big Boys Don’t Cry: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of Male Sexual Victimization

“…A stereotypical description of rape (i.e., rape scripts) may therefore lead victims to refrain from defining their experience as rape or sexual assault if the rape does not fit into this narrow definition (Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2004). Research has shown that many male victims do not seek help, or wait longer, because of difficulties in self-identifying as victims (Machado et al, 2016). Machado, Hines, and Matos (2016) state that masculine gender socialization, social stigmatization, and strong endorsement of sociocultural values appear to be the main reasons why male victims do not seek help.…”

“…Third, researchers have shown that reactions toward male victims differ depending on the characteristics of the victim and perpetrator (e.g., men who had been sexually victimized by a female perpetrator experienced very negative postassault reactions from others; Davies, 2002). An online survey on help seeking and the needs of male victims of intimate partner violence in Portugal reported that men found the formal sources of support (e.g., victim support services, police, the justice system) unhelpful (Machado, Hines, & Matos, 2016). Finally, the level of knowledge about male sexual victims still falls well below that of women.…”

“Walking on egg shells”: A qualitative examination of men’s experiences of intimate partner violence.

“…Within the current sample, 25.6% of the men had never told anyone about their experiences; where men had spoken about it, they had more often told friends and family, but not sought help from the police or services. This is a finding seen within the literature with men often feeling unable to ask for help for IPV (Tsui, 2014), or finding formal sources of support to be unhelpful (Machado et al, 2016). Whilst many victims of IPV regardless of gender will face barriers in help-seeking, it is thought that men face additional issues in relation to a gendered legal and service system, and their own ability to ask for help.…”

“…For many men, they do not identify as victims because of the societal discourse around IPV meaning men are seen as perpetrators and women are victims (e.g. Machado, Hines & Matos, 2016). Furthermore, some men struggle to talk about their experiences through feelings of shame or the fear of not being believed (e.g.…”

“…However, public perceptions of IPV are influenced by normative perceptions of masculinity and femininity; men are seen to deviate from the normative understanding of masculinity when they perpetrate aggression towards a woman, but also when they are victim to it (Scarduzio, Carlyle, Harris & Savage, 2017). These perceptions may go some way to explaining why men struggle to identify as victims which in turn influences help-seeking behavior (Machado et al, 2016). This has implications for awareness raising campaigns that need to capture the full range of people who experience IPV; men need to be "visible" in this way for them to begin to recognise and identify their experience.…”