Report and Risk Being Called a Weakling?: Perspectives of Male Victims on Sociocultural Barriers to Reporting Domestic Abuse in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Considerable studies have examined and ascertained a significant number of male victims of domestic abuse, yet less is known about the social experiences of men who report their victimization. This study aims to explore the factors that interplay in the decisions of abused men to report, the sociocultural barriers to reporting abuse, and post-report social reactions toward victimized men. Fifty-two male victims of wife-initiated and perpetrated violence were engaged in a qualitative study, and an interpretative phenomenological analysis was carried out. Findings indicated a positive disposition of victims toward reporting but exhibited reluctance in reporting due to fear of social stigmatization, loss of sources of livelihood, and socio-religious statuses. Recognition of the predicaments of abused men in reporting and help-seeking processes is suggested, for their safety, coping, and wellbeing not to be compromised.

KEYWORDS:

• Abuse
• domestic violence
• male victims
• reporting behavior
• sociocultural barriers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Author’s university. Emphasis was placed on voluntary participation throughout the recruitment and interview processes. All names used to refer to participants in this paper are pseudonyms.