Equal Victims or the Usual Suspects? Making Sense of Domestic Abuse Against Men

Abstract

This article reports on research commissioned to address the topic of domestic abuse against men in Scotland. The research addressed three key questions: (1) Why do male victims appear much more frequently in crime survey data than in recorded crime statistics? (2) Are there significant differences in the nature and frequency of domestic abuse experienced by men and women? (3) In what kinds of relationships does domestic abuse against men occur? The article explains that the relative absence of male victims in the domestic abuse statistics gathered by the Scottish police can be accounted for in terms of gender differences in experiences of victimisation and reporting patterns. Drawing upon in-depth interview material elicited from a sample of men originally counted as ‘male victims’ in the Scottish Crime Survey, the article also argues that statistics collated on the basis of crime survey data overstate men's experiences of domestic abuse. The article concludes with a discussion of the methodological and policy implications that should be drawn from this finding.