Culture influences men’s experiences with intimate partner violence, study finds

Historically, stereotypical ideas of intimate partner violence (IPV) have overlooked or minimized the experiences of male victims. Simultaneously, perspectives of men’s experiences with IPV are influenced by country-specific cultural contexts.

A novel study by Denise Hines, professor in the Department of Social Work, published in Partner Abuse, compared the rates at which male victims experience IPV from a partner to acts of IPV they committed themselves in four English-speaking regions: U.S., Canada, UK/Ireland, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Hines’s findings offer key insights into differences and similarities among those countries in their experiences of male IPV victimization:

• Self-identified male victims reported prevalence rates of victimization from 50.0% to 96.1% for sexual and physical IPV, respectively. Sexual IPV perpetration rates were estimated to be 21.1%, while physical IPV perpetration was reported at 54.0%.
• Male IPV victims from the U.S. reported perpetrating and experiencing significantly more IPV than men from other countries, emphasizing the importance of national context in understanding IPV.
• Gendered stereotypes that men cannot be victims that are embedded in legislation, support resources, and justice systems prevent male victims from seeking help, and individual countries must implement context-specific solutions tailored to the unique needs of their male IPV victim population.

Hines is working with Fairfax County Domestic and Sexual Violence Services on two projects, focusing on understanding and overcoming barriers to service access for underserved communities in Fairfax County, Virginia.