Men Are Victims Of Domestic Violence At A Similar Rate As Women In Canada But Help Is Becoming More Available

Bijan Rafii, M. Sc.
Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Men and Families-York Region, Canada
york@menandfamilies.org
menandfamilies.org

Domestic violence (DV, also known as intimate partner violence) deservedly receives a great deal of coverage in the media. DV is generally viewed as a gender issue where the victims are usually women and the perpetrators are usually men. This view was supported by early studies, which identified women as about 80% of DV victims and men as 20%. However, these studies were conducted using police reported statistics and men generally are reluctant to report a domestic abuse situation to the police for a number of reasons. These reasons include the social taboo for a man be a victim, the fear of being arrested instead since police are directed to approach domestic incidents with a gendered lens, concern about leaving their children with their abusive partner, as well as the fear that an escalation in the domestic conflict would lead to separation and the victim will lose contact with his children (in Canada only about 50% of fathers have court ordered joint legal custody after divorce and fewer than 22% of fathers have joint physical custody).

Population surveys from Statistics Canada, however, have presented a different picture. According to a 2019 study out of the Simon Fraser University (Lysova et al. 2019), which analyzed the Statistics Canada’s 2014 General Social Survey on Victimization (a survey of 33,000 Canadians), 2.9% of men and 1.7% of women who were married or in a common-law relationship self identified as victims of physical or sexual violence in the past 5 years in their current relationship. For the more severe forms of physical DV (being slapped, kicked, choked, dangerous object thrown at), the ratio was 1.1% for men versus 0.5% for women. Men were 48% more likely than women to experience controlling and coercive behaviour in the context of DV (10.1% of male DV victims versus 6.8% of female DV victims). Thirty five percent of male victims and 34% of female victims experienced high controlling behaviours, the most severe form of abuse know as intimate terrorism. However, male and female victims experienced similar rates of PTSD-related symptoms as the result of DV. Similar results have been reported from the population surveys in the United States by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC, 2015) where women and men reported DV at the similar rates during their lifetime. Although women are reported to be victims of domestic homicide at a higher rate (84% for women versus 16% for men; Statistics Canada), solvability of homicide when the victim is male is much lower (28% unsolved for men versus 13% of women). Given that about 72% of homicide victims are men, the percentage of men as victims of domestic homicide may be higher.

Both genders nearly equally initiate violence in a domestic situation. However, men tend to stay longer in abusive relationship than women (Ackerman, 2012). Estimates vary somewhat but in one of the largest studies of partner violence symmetry which included 14,000 couples, a 2016 University of New Hampshire study (Straus and Gozjolko, 2016, please also see Bates,  2016, for review of DV gender symmetry) found that 51% of violence was bidirectional, 33% of violence was perpetrated by the female partner only, whereas 16% of violence was perpetrated by the male partner only. These results were consistent with another study looking at gender symmetry in 32 nations (Straus, 2008, table 1). According to this international study, women on average initiate violence (severe assault) against an intimate partner 39% more often than men. The corresponding figure for Canada is 43%, and 36% in the United States.

DV manifests itself in different forms. These include physical violence, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse parental alienation (whereby one parent uses different strategies to break the parent-child bond of the other parent) as well as administrative abuse (using the system to hurt the victim, such as false allegations). This latter is particularly difficult for the victims since once a false allegation of abuse is made, the victim (usually the male partner) is charged, the contact with children, if any, is impeded until there is a criminal court trial (which can take more than a year) and the charge will likely weigh in if there is a custody case in the family court; in that case, the father will likely lose the custody of his children and the relationship with his children is usually permanently affected. Although the criminal charges resulting from the original accusations are usually dropped in such cases due to lack of merit, the loss of custody of their children, the severe emotional toll of going through a criminal trial, and the financial burden are very difficult for these men as well as their children who lose their father. At The Canadian Centre for Men and Families (CCMF ) we focus on supporting men who are victims of DV and by far false allegations have the most long lasting effect and are most devastating.

Although supporting female victims of DV is important,  it is also critical for our society to acknowledge the male victims of domestic violence, given the large number of men who are affected and that supporting men in abusive relationship will also prevent escalation of conflict and will likely save women’s lives. Extrapolating from the Statistics Canada’s prevalence of male DV victimization to the whole country, about 18,000 Canadian men annually are victims of the severe forms of physical DV but there is little public awareness of this issue and limited resources for them to turn to. As a society, we have done a good job with supporting women who are victims of DV and currently there are about 630 women’s shelters in Canada where various legal, housing and social assistance programs are in place to support female victims. Currently there are no Men’s domestic abuse shelters with male focussed programs at this time in Canada, where men and their children can take refuge from the abusive partner. At CCMF, we are working towards opening the first shelter in Toronto in 2021 for men and fathers who have experienced DV and hope to be able to begin closing the gap in services for this vulnerable population. At our agency, we support male victims of DV by offering private counselling (by registered counsellors), group recovery program for men who have experienced relationship abuse, marriage counselling, support group for men who experienced false allegations, as well as legal aid. All services can be accessed by visiting menandfamilies.org.

References

Ackerman, J. 2012. The Relevance of Relationship Satisfaction and Continuation to the Gender Symmetry Debate. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 27 (18):3579-3600.

Bates, E. 2016. Current Controversies within Intimate Partner Violence: Overlooking Bidirectional Violence. J. Fam. Viol. 31:937–940.

CDC 2015.  https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/2015data-brief508.pdf  (Figures 8, 9, Accessed January 10, 2021).

Lysova, A, L., Emeka, E. D., Dutton, D. 2019. Prevalence and consequence of intimate partner violence in Canada as measured by the national victimization survey. Partner Abuse. 10:199-221.

Statistics Canada.  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11805/11805-3-eng.htm#a5 (accessed January 10, 2021)

Straus, Murry A. 2008. Dominance and symmetry in partner violence by male and female university students in 32 nations. Children and youth Service Review. 30:252-275.

Straus, M. A., Gozjolko, K. L. 2016. Concordance between partners in “intimate terrorism”: A comparison of two typologies. Aggression and Violent Behavior. 29: 55–60.