Violence against men (VAM), consists of violent acts that are disproportionately or exclusively committed against men. Men are overrepresented as both victims and perpetrators of violence. Sexual violence against men is treated differently in any given society from that committed against women, and may be unrecognized by international law.
Perceptions
Studies
of social attitudes show violence is perceived as more or less serious
depending on the gender of victim and perpetrator. According to a study in the publication Aggressive Behavior,
violence against women was about a third more likely to be reported by
third parties to the police regardless of the gender of the attacker, although the most likely to be reported gender combination was a male perpetrator and female victim. The use of stereotypes by law enforcement is a recognised issue,
and international law scholar Solange Mouthaan argues that, in conflict
scenarios, sexual violence against men has been ignored in favor of a
focus on sexual violence against women and children.
One explanation for this difference in focus is the physical power that
men hold over women making people more likely to condemn violence with
this gender configuration. The concept of male survivors of violence go against social perceptions of the male gender role, leading to low recognition and few legal provisions. Often there is no legal framework for a woman to be prosecuted when committing violent offenses against a man.
Richard Felson
challenges the assumption that violence against women is different from
violence against men. The same motives play a role in almost all
violence, regardless of gender: to gain control or retribution and to
promote or defend self-image.
Writing for Time, Cathy Young
criticised the feminist movement for not doing enough to challenge
double standards in the treatment of male victims of physical abuse and
sexual assault.
Domestic violence
In 2013 editor-in-chief of the journal Partner Abuse, John Hamel, set up the Domestic Violence Research Group to create the "Partner Abuse State of Knowledge Project (PASK)". PASK found parity in rates of both perpetration and victimisation for men and women.
Men who are victims of domestic violence
are at times reluctant to report it or to seek help. According to some
commentators there is also a paradigm that only males perpetrate
domestic violence and are never victims. Shamita Das Dasgupta and Erin Pizzey are amongst those who argue that, as with other forms of violence against men, intimate partner violence is generally less recognized in society when the victims are men. Violence of women against men in relationships is often 'trivialized' due to the supposed weaker physique of women; in such cases the use of dangerous objects and weapons is omitted.
Research since the 1990s has identified issues of perceived and actual
bias when police are involved, with the male victim being negated even
whilst injured.
Female violence against men
According to the journalist Martin Daubney
"...there remains a theory that men under report their experiences [of
violence by women against men] due to a culture of masculine
expectations." The official figure in the United Kingdom,
for example, is about 50% of the number of acts of violence by men
against women, but there are indications that only about 10% of male
victims of female violence report the incidents to the authorities,
mainly due to taboos and fears of misunderstanding created by a culture
of masculine expectations. By comparison 1.9 million people aged 16–59 told the Crime Survey for England and Wales
(year ending March 2017), that they were victims of domestic violence
and 79% did not report their partner or ex-partner. Of the 1.9 million,
approximately 1.2 million were female and 713,000 were male.
A Canadian report found that men were 22% more likely to report being
victims of spousal violence in their current relationship than women. Researchers Stemple and Meyer report that sexual violence by women against men is often understudied or unrecognized.
Family violence scholar Richard Gelles
published an article entitled "Domestic Violence: Not An Even Playing
Field" and accused men's rights groups of distorting research findings
on men's and women's violence to promote a misogynistic agenda.
Some domestic violence scholars and advocates have rejected the
research cited by men's rights activists and dispute their claims that
such violence is gender symmetrical,
arguing that their focus on violence against men stems from a political
agenda to minimize the severity of the problem of men's violence
against women and children and to undermine services to abused women.
Forced circumcision
Non-therapeutic male circumcision is considered, by several groups, to be a form of violence against young men and boys. The International Criminal Court considers forced circumcision to be an "inhumane act". Some court decisions have found it to be a violation of a child's rights. In certain countries, such as Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and the United States, newborn baby males are routinely circumcised without the child's consent. As well, the Jewish and Muslim faiths circumcise boys at a young age. It is also practiced in Coptic Christianity and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Although a 2012 court ruling in Germany put the practice of male
cutting under question, calling circumcision "grievous bodily harm," the
German parliament passed a law to keep circumcision of boys legal. As of 2016, cutting of boys' foreskins is still legal worldwide.
Mass killings
Serbian victims during insurgency in the Kosovo War
In situations of structural violence that include war and genocide, men and boys are frequently singled out and killed. The murder of targets by sex during the Kosovo War, estimates of civilian male victims of mass killings suggest that they made up more than 90% of all civilian casualties.
Non-combatant men and boys have been and continue to be the most
frequent targets of mass killing and genocidal slaughter, as well as a
host of lesser atrocities and abuses. Gendercide Watch, an independent human rights group, documents multiple gendercides aimed at males (adult and children): The Anfal Campaign,
(Iraqi Kurdistan), 1988 – Armenian Genocide (1915–17) – Rwanda, 1994. Forced conscription can also be considered gender-based violence against men.
Sexual violence
In armed conflict, sexual violence is committed by men against men as psychological warfare in order to demoralize the enemy. The practice is ancient, and was recorded as taking place during the Crusades.
Castration is used as a means of physical torture with strong
psychological effects, namely the loss of the ability to procreate and
the loss of the status of a full man. International criminal law does not consider gender based sexual violence against men a separate type of offense and treats it as war crimes or torture. The culture of silence around this issue often leaves men with no support.
In 2012, a UNHCR report stated that "SGBV (sexual and gender
based violence) against men and boys has generally been mentioned as a
footnote in reports".
In one study, less than 3% of organizations that address rape as a
weapon of war, mention men or provide services to male victims. It was noted in 1990 that the English language is "bereft of terms and phrases which accurately describe male rape".
Homicide
| Male offender/Male victim | 65.3% |
| Male offender/Female victim | 22.7% |
| Female offender/Male victim | 9.6% |
| Female offender/Female victim | 2.4% |
In the U.S., crime statistics from the 1976 onwards show that men make up the majority of the homicide
perpetrators regardless if the victim is female or male. Men are also
over-represented as victims in homicide involving both male and female
offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, women who kill men are most likely to kill acquaintances, spouses or boyfriends while men are more likely to kill strangers. In many cases, women kill men due to being victims of intimate partner violence, however this research was conducted on women on death row, a sample size of approximately 97 during the last 100 years.
