The National Domestic Violence Hotline claims that nearly one-third of women and one-tenth of men have experienced stalking, domestic or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner. These people also reported that these events impacted their lives in some notable way.
However, it’s difficult to know how accurate these statistics are because some victims won’t report it for any number of reasons. Many experts claim that violence against men is as common, or nearly as common, as violence against women.
Regardless of how common it is, most people agree that it is happening to some men. Reporting domestic violence is difficult for anybody, perhaps especially for men. We’ll give you a few tips in the paragraphs below.
1. Don’t Hit Back
The sad truth is that people have been conditioned to believe that men are almost always the violent one in an abusive relationship. There may be a lot of male perpetrators, but there are also a lot of male victims.
It goes a lot deeper than statistics, though. There is, for some reason, a false belief that showing men as victims undermines the credibility of victimized women, so you never see it portrayed in the media.
This problem already exists for men, though, and it has done considerable damage to their credibility. Worse yet, abusers will often try to claim they were the victim. This is a common tactic among many abusers, regardless of gender.
In any case, hitting back may hurt your credibility, but especially in the case of female on male violence, since the assumption is already that you’re to blame. For this reason, it’s best to avoid physical defense unless you have to.
2. Document Everything
One of the biggest issues both men and women face in reporting domestic violence is a lack of evidence. If you can’t prove what happened and when everything turns into hearsay.
The good news is that you have a lot of options when it comes to gathering evidence. Even if you can’t hide it, there are records that can’t be accessed or altered.
For instance, if the police have ever been called, there’s a record of it. If you’ve ever gone to the hospital for injuries inflicted by your partner, there’s a record. These records stack up, and that makes it harder for your abuser to lie about it.
3. Consult a Domestic Violence Service
There are multiple ways in which a domestic violence shelter or hotline can help. For starters, it will serve as yet another piece of evidence that you were abused.
The biggest advantage, though, is that these services deal with abuse every day. They will likely know how to help you and may give you advice on how to move forward.
Reporting Domestic Violence: The Challenges Men Face and How to Overcome Them
Reporting domestic violence is tough for many people, but it can be especially difficult for men. Fortunately, it’s not impossible.
We’ve offered some advice in this article, but there are a few more things you can do. You may want to do more research to make sure you’re fully prepared.
If you want more legal advice, you can find it on our site. We can tell you what not to do when hiring a domestic violence lawyer.