When the woman gets violent: the construction of domestic abuse experience from heterosexual men's perspective

Aims and objectives To promote a critical approach on the conceptualisation of domestic violence by investigating the experience of abuse on the part of men who are victims of domestic violence by their female partners. Background Media attention and prevention programmes relating to domestic violence have mainly focused on women as the victims and men as the perpetrators. The underlying idea is that violence is predominantly physical and a prerogative of men. This conceptualisation of violence reduces the opportunities for the consideration of different modalities of abuse. Design Discourse analysis within a qualitative approach. Methods Semistructured interviews with 20 Italian men who claimed to have been abused by their female partners were conducted via Skype and analysed with the software atlas.ti. The grounded theory methodology was used to avoid imposing external points of view. Personal data were collected; in particular, their occupational level was compared to their partners’ to assess the social power within the couple. Results Because of their strong endorsement of social and cultural values, participants showed a protective attitude towards their partners and imputed their violent acts to fragility or an external condition. Emotional distress emerged due to the isolation and subsequent inability to seek help. Although the physical violence reported is severe, the psychological violence was indicated as more damaging. Conclusion Gaining an understanding of how men experience domestic abuse offers an opportunity to provide better prevention and intervention for them and other family members at risk of abuse. Relevance to clinical practice The study identifies gaps in service provision generated by a lack of information or perceived prejudice towards abused men. The role of the nurse in supporting male victims is discussed, and future applications for treatments and prevention plans are proposed.