There Are Millions Of Battered Men
Women are not always the victim; men suffer from domestic violence often at the hands of a loved one, and are more apt to stay silent. If you’re a man, and you suspect your spouse has the potential to be abusive, or is abusing you or your children, don’t keep it bottled up inside. Telling the right people about your abusive spouse or partner can help you and your children.
How do you know if you are being abused? Just like a woman would; it doesn’t mean that, as a man, you are weak, or too sensitive. There are those who do suffer from unreasonable emotional sensitivity, which can be treated with therapy and counseling just like any other depressive disorder. It’s also not a matter of strictly physical violence; emotional abuse inflicted on men by women occurs more often than most believe.
Emotional Abuse
Does your wife or girlfriend discourage you from having friends, or a social life outside of home?
Does your partner keep track of all the time you spend away from her?
Has your partner destroyed your personal property, or items with sentimental value?
Are you not in control of your own finances?
Are you constantly being criticised for innocuous things?
Do you feel often manipulated into doing things you would otherwise not do?
As you read over the above questions, more often than not, you’re going to find yourself saying yes to a lot of the questions, whether or not you’ll admit it. If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, the bottom line is, that you are being emotionally abused.
Physical/Verbal Abuse
Does your wife or girlfriend threaten to, or slap, kick, bite, pull your hair, scratch, punch, or hit you and/or your children?
Is your wife or girlfriend explosively angry while drinking, or on prescribed or illegal drugs?
Has your wife or partner threatened to or used any weapon on you or your children?
Has your wife or girlfriend sexually abused your children?
Does your wife or girlfriend try to force intercourse on you?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, then yes, it is time to face the fact that your partner is abusing you, and you have been a victim of domestic violence.
Why Men Hide It
Various reasons. Often, males who are victims of domestic violence feel that they can handle it, because they’ve had worse injuries elsewhere. Suffering at the hands of a loved one is never the same as an injury at work, or on the athletic field. Other times, or even including the first attitude, men keep silent because they feel they would be ridiculed, humiliated, or subject to embarrassment if they told someone. Or the male victim will just hide from their abuser, whether it’s working long hours, extending a business trip, or just spending as much time away from a bad home life as possible. But why, really? These behaviours stem from a lack of self worth, denial; thinking perhaps you’re just being too dramatic, unwilling to sacrifice all the good times you’ve had with your partner, or just that it would be too much of a task to take on right now, –maybe tomorrow you’ll tell someone. A “real man” is a man who has the strength to know when to stop the domestic violence at home.