Manpeace? - Victims on equal conditions?
Abstract
The meaning of this essay is to bring you a picture of a growing unnoticed society problem. The statistics talk for itself. The low number of men who report domestic violence, where they are the victims, shows that the society doesn?t have a good way of meeting this type of problem which is based both on structural and individual problems. The lack of science and the legislation are insufficient and discriminating because they are built on a picture where women are the victims and men are the perpetrators. It is also built on the norm of a heterosexual relationship which means that it is one sided and needs to be developed.
By interviewing professional people in different working areas we have tried to get a picture of the needs of men who are exposed to domestic violence. The purpose of this essay has also been to identify the resources that Gothenburg city has to offer these men in questions regarding treatment and supportive efforts.
One of the main problems in this, regarding men that are exposed to domestic violence, is the huge number of unrecorded cases. There are also not enough scientific researches made on this subject. The huge amount of unrecorded cases is creating an image that this is an almost none existing problem and this also causes difficulties for the society and its authorities to face the individuals that have been victims for this sort of violence. An important discovery that we have made, during our work on this essay, is that as much as the society of Gothenburg lacks resources to meet the needs of men exposed to domestic violence, as much does the society lacks resources to meet women who are perpetrators. We also found that the society of Gothenburg lacks resources to deal with the problems connected to domestic violence within none heterosexual families.