Our thanks to Douglas for this:

A new report has been published by UK Research England, University of Central Lancashire and Mankind Initiative.

Male Victims of Coercive Control Experiences and Impact
by Professor Nicola Graham-Kevan, Deborah Powney & Mankind Initiative

From the Summary:

Domestic abuse is treated as a gendered issue, with male perpetrators and female victims. Despite the Office for National Statistics reporting that one in three victims of domestic abuse is male, research has centred on the experiences of women. This means that men’s experiences may be minimised or ignored.

The Serious Crime Act 2015 created a new offence of controlling or coercive behaviour used within intimate or familial relationships. This is when the perpetrator repeatedly or continuously uses a pattern of behaviour that includes isolating a person from their friends and family, monitoring their time and movements, depriving them of their basic needs, and taking control over their everyday life.

This report summarises the UK findings of a major international survey of the experiences of male victims of intimate partner abuse carried out in 2020. We focussed on men’s experiences of coercive control from intimate partners. The 538 UK respondents were mainly from England (80%), but also Scotland (11%), Wales (6%) and Northern Ireland (3%). The majority of participants had left the abusive relationship (83%), with some respondents still in an abusive relationship (17%). Most men were in heterosexual relationships (91%).

Specific types of abuse are reported in the summary:

• Threats – such as threats to harm (66%), threats to harm self (49%) and threats to disclose damaging information (66%).
• Intimidation – such as being nasty to friends or family (74%), smashing property (57%), forcing the person to do things they didn’t want to do (84%).
• Isolation – such as restricting time spent with family and friends (84%), limiting activities or movement (80%), and checking up on movements (76%).
• Economic abuse – such as controlling money (71%), refusing to share expenses (75%), or making it difficult to work or study (87%).
• Emotional abuse – such as putting the person down (79%), showing them up in public (77%), or gaslighting (84%).
• Using children – such as threatening to take the children away (84%), arguing in front of the children (85%) and making the person feel bad about the children (88%).

The 41-page report can be downloaded from Mankind in PDF format.
https://www.mankind.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Male-Victims-of-Coercive-Control-2021.pdf

These experiences of coercive control severely limited male victims’ sense of choice and freedom. The distress of experiencing abuse had a physical impact and psychological affect that would be of clinical concern in eight out of ten men.

There are five recommendations:
[1] Although there is consistent national and international evidence of men’s coercive control victimisation, there remains a need to conduct a large-scale national study investigating the experiences of male victims of coercive control in terms of impact. The findings of which should inform the wording of the Office for National Statistics impact questions for male victims of coercive control.

[2] A whole system approach towards enhancing the understanding of the prevalence and specific experiences male victims is required so that agencies including the police, Crown Prosecutors, judiciary, general practitioners, social services and CAFCASS officers understand how men experience coercion, how they communicate this to others, what factors are more salient to male victims, and what support they need.

[3] A whole system approach towards enhancing the understanding of the impact on children of being exposed to their father’s coercive control victimisation and also being subject coercive control directly by their female caregiver is needed so that agencies including the police, Crown Prosecutors, judiciary, general practitioners, social services and CAFCASS officers, as well as other frontline services can detect and respond appropriately to protect children.

[4] There is need to adapt current national awareness campaigns to adequately reflect male victimisation and to educate the public and change societal attitudes towards who may be a victim of coercive control. As well as to raise awareness and understanding of women’s coercive controlling behaviour and to encourage abusive women to seek help to change.

[5] Male victims of domestic abuse should no longer be categorised by the UK Government as being victims of “Violence Against Women and Girls.” They should have a parallel strategy: “Ending Intimate Violence Against Men and Boys” to ensure their voices are equally heard, their experiences not minimised, and they are no longer invisible. There should also be consideration of a strategy tackling violence within the family as there are wider issues in this regard that need to be addressed.

“Only by understanding the ways that this abuse is inflicted on and impacts men, can we develop effective support measures for victims”
— Nicola Graham-Kevan, UCLan Professor of Criminal Justice Psychology and Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Research and Partnership

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