by Londie Harrisson

Created on: September 06, 2009

MALE ABUSE: How Much Do You Know?

'Intimate Partner Violence', 'Dating Violence', 'Domestic Violence', and 'Violence against Women' are all commonly heard terms in Canadian society. What is provided within these keywords is a stereotypical impression of males abusing their female partners/spouses. Consequently, when terms such as 'female-perpetrated violence', 'Husband Abuse', and 'Violence against Men' are put forth, many people in society either draw a blank or outright dismiss the notion as ludicrous (Kashobera Crawford, 2006). The purpose of this paper is paper is to provide an extensive, scholarly review of the literature on the topic of 'male abuse'. This will be done as follows: (1) by attempting to answer the questions: 'Are men victims of domestic or dating violence in heterosexual relationships?' and 'If male abuse is a real phenomenon, then do women act out in violence against their intimate partners in situations other than self-defence and what does this mean about violent traits not being associated with the female 'nature'?'; (2) A discussion about what services/supports are currently available to male victims in Canada, where gaps in services are most pronounced for this population, and what policy changes are needed to support this subgroup of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) victims. The paper will conclude with some recommendations for further research on this topic.

After reviewing over 80 pieces of literature by accredited scholars and researchers (from a variety of Humanity and Legal backgrounds), as well as countless mainstream media pieces, I believe I have compiled enough information to address these questions. The intent of this paper is to provide a comprehensive report outlining the necessity for Canadian policy changes towards issues of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in order to bridge a wide (and often unseen) service gap. Although much of the literature reviewed has 'international' authors or information, most of the reviewed research has related their findings in such as way as to be useful as contributions to our overall knowledge on the topic of Violence in relationships. It is this author's hypothesis that by addressing the questions about Intimate Partner Violence mentioned above, the resulting answers will help bring about an awareness of this social issue.

In order to begin addressing the questions, it first becomes necessary to define the terms most commonly used within the research and show how this paper will utilize

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