The amount of Polish women abusing their husbands or partners has tripled in the last three years, claims a report by the Poland’s Police Headquarters.
According to a survey conducted by CBOS in 2009, as many as 23 percent of adult Poles admit that they had been victims of abuse and 6 percent admited they had been abused at home. The majority of home abuse victims are women and children. However, men also fall victim to domestic violence.
Police statistics show that out of 132,000 abuse victims, 11,000 are men and their number is gradually increasing.
“The number of men who fall victim to female domestic violence has tripled in the last three years,” says Grazyna Puchalska from Police HQ.
In Poland domestic violence towards men is still a taboo subject because men who experience it are often perceived as weak and in some people’s opinion they do not deserve sympathy.
It is estimated that in Poland 5 to 7 percent of men are victims of domestic violence. In the U.S., according to Domestic Violence Against Men, among each 100 victims of abuse 40 are men.
Tip of an iceberg?
Different results in the two countries do not mean, however, that in Poland the problem is marginal. “The 5 to 7 percent is just the tip of an iceberg,” says says Prof. Irena Pospiszyl from the Higher School of Rehabilitation in Warsaw. “My research shows that up to 14 percent of men are victims but most of them do not report it. What’s also significant is that as many as 30 percent of my respondents refused to answer the questions about this.”
“Men hardly ever report abuse because they are ashamed of being beaten or humiliated by a woman. It is against a stereotype of a strong, tough man,” says Prof. Dariusz Dolinski from the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Men are also afraid that police will not believe them if they report that domestic violence was directed towards them.
Women more often abuse men verbally and psychologically than physically, however. “They insult, humiliate, bully men, make fun of them or blackmail them,” says Prof. Dolinski, adding that men usually abuse women because they want to achieve a certain goal, whereas women more often abuse men when they want to relieve tension or frustration.
In July, the first centre for domestic abused men was created in Poland by Fundacja Akcja. “So far we have provided group therapy for men who experience marriage crisis or got divorced but during the sessions many participants mention that they were abused by their partners so we decided to create a special programme for them,” says Robert Kucharski from Fundacja Akcja. (mg/pg)
Source: menstream.pl
Thenews.pl |
