“Can someone just ever for one moment assume I could be a victim?” An exploratory analysis investigating male victims of intimate partner violence experiences of help-seeking.

Abstract

This thesis explores the help-seeking experiences of male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) prior to and during the Coronavirus pandemic, the supporting experiences of practitioners supporting male victims during the Coronavirus pandemic, and also assesses how traditional stereotypes influences society's judgements of incidents of partner violence and their decision making to intervene in incidents of intimate partner. In study 1, male survivors of partner abuse were invited to participate in a mixed-method questionnaire about their experiences of abuse and help-seeking. The questionnaire also highlighted the barriers that prevented them from help-seeking. Results suggest that prescriptive and rigid stereotypes inform support organisation's descriptions of typical partner violence incidents, and typical perpetrator and victim characteristics, resulting in support organisations disbelieving men’s experiences and male victims experiencing discrimination. Furthermore, these same stereotypes inform men themselves, meaning that some male victims do not perceive their experiences as abusive nor see themselves as a victim of IPV. Study 2 consisted of two sub�studies that acted as a comparative whole study. Study 2a similarly explored men's help�seeking experiences, but, during the unexpected Coronavirus pandemic. This study explored two comparisons: a) the help-seeking experiences of men during the pandemic and prior to the pandemic, and b) a comparison to the experiences that practitioners reported. Study 2b explored the support challenges and opportunities that practitioners supporting male victims during the Coronavirus pandemic reported. For male victims, results suggest that the lockdown and stay�at-home messages did influence their decisions to report their abusive experiences. As some men were not sure of available support prior to the pandemic, during the pandemic they were still unaware, meaning that the pandemic did not influence their help-seeking. For practitioners, an increase in demand from male victims presented challenges as face-to-face support was restricted or stopped completely. However, results also showed that several support opportunities presented themselves for organisations during the pandemic-related changes (such as video call appointments) which will continue to be implemented in the future. Finally, study 3 explored ‘bystanders’ judgments towards an audio recording of a simulated partner violence incident alternating by perpetrator and victim sex. This study also explored if these judgments influenced their decision-making to intervene in IPV incidents. The findings determined that stereotypes do extend to and influence society’s perceptions of IPV and this also impacts intervention. It is concluded that whilst exposure of men’s victimisation has increased, gender stereotypes, continue to impact men’s own recognition of abuse, society's recognition of men as victims and support organisation's response to male victims. The final chapter of this thesis summarises the findings and details the implications of this research