By Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.

Common thinking is that abuse is a women’s issue. While it is true there are more reported abuse cases involving women, it is a fact that men are abused by their intimate partners as well.

My belief is that there is indeed a gender factor when we think of abuse in the general sense… That including all forms and manifestations of abuse: reckless conduct, competitive violent aggression, that associated with lowered inhibitions, excessive stress reactivity, underdeveloped interpersonal communication skills, and the abusive conduct that can be a by-product of drug seeking behavior and the like.

I do not believe there is as much a gender factor when it comes to the abuse characteristic of intimate partner violence as it’s defined in the professional literature. With respect to this syndrome, I believe there is more of a “human factor” underlying its dynamics.

In my own consulting practice, as well as in my life, I see as many men who are victimized/battered by their female partners as women. The only difference I see between the two is the social politics surrounding their issues.

Food for thought… And all the more reason to understand what distinguishes intimate partner violence from other forms of abuse. Once we identify the essence of the battering, that is the larger context from which it unfolds, then we are in a better position to act in our best interest.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 6:43 am and is filed under Abuse Insights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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