Women launch campaign for male domestic abuse victims

**frostyboy** · 6th-January-2010

From The Scotsman:

Women launch campaign for male domestic abuse victims

TWO women have launched a campaign for more help for men
who are victims of domestic abuse.

Alison Waugh, from Morningside, and Fife woman Jackie Walls
have submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for
an overhaul of all projects and programmes tackling domestic
abuse to ensure they address the needs of men as well as
women.

They said they became interested in men's experience of
domestic abuse after being deeply shaken when men they knew
revealed the ordeals they were going through.

Ms Waugh, 58, said: "I know people who have been at the receiving end and was really quite shocked when I realised how difficult life can be for a man in that situation. I was like everyone else – I had no idea."

She said as they tried in vain to find help for male victims, there had been a proliferation of publicly funded campaigns and services aimed at women victims and their children.

Ms Waugh said: "I'm a member of the public; I can see something that is completely wrong and getting worse.

"I felt I could not ignore it and having found out about it, I could not forget about it.

"The kind of situation I have come across would be men who have spent years being physically attacked and finding that women smaller than themselves can actually seem stronger at the time."

She said men could also suffer domestic bullying, controlling behaviour and the curtailing of their activities and their friends.

She added that men who spoke up about abuse were not believed and were likely to face counter-accusation and risk losing access to their children.

"They have to tread on eggshells and make sure they do not offend the wrong people. They have a lot to lose if they raise the issue."

Figures last year showed about 14 per cent of domestic abuse cases recorded by police were of a woman abusing a man.

In the Lothians, the number of men who say they are victims of domestic violence has more than trebled in the past decade.

In their submission to the parliament, the two women said that while more than £100 million will be spent tackling domestic abuse between 1999 and 2011, not a penny of it has gone to fund services or campaigns designed for abused men and their children.

"There are at present no services in Scotland specifically designed for the needs of abused men and their children, nor any general frontline services that address their problems."

But they stressed they did not want to see services that help abused women being cut.

The petition, which has already attracted almost 100 signatures, is expected to be considered by MSPs later this month.

Here is a link to their petition: Male victims of domestic violence

Even if you live outside of Britain, you're still allowed to sign it. Thus, I encourage everyone on this forum to spend two minutes doing so!

**Annie** · 6th-January-2010

That's good to see. Signed it.

**Celtic Druid** · 6th-January-2010

Well done to these ladies.

Edit: Signed

I noted Erin Pizzey is among the signees as well as some councillors and clergy.

**Incognito** · 6th-January-2010

Signed.

**rohara** · 6th-January-2010

Done.

**frostyboy** · 6th-January-2010

Between now and the petition's closing date (January 17th), I'm going to promote it on mainstream message boards and on social networking/bookmarking sites.

I'm hoping that the petition will receive around 1000 signatures in total.

**Nynrah Ghost** · 6th-January-2010

Signed.

**Meadester** · 6th-January-2010

Signed.

**johnkimble1** · 6th-January-2010

Wow, just spent some time writting a rebuttal to some feminist's comment about how dv is a gender issue and how great teh WHite Ribbon campaign is etc. By the tiem I'd posted it her comment had been removed by teh administrator!

Never seen that before.

**nivek** · 6th-January-2010

signed

**ossymos** · 6th-January-2010

Well done ladies
Let's hope that this campaign (and these 2 ladies) get the coverage it deserves !!!!

**Marx** · 6th-January-2010

Signed (re other thread)

**frostyboy** · 7th-January-2010

The amount of media coverage which these two women have generated is impressive:

Ayrshire Post: Male Focus For Abuse Campaign
Daily Record: Male victims of domestic abuse need help too say campaigners
Herald Scotland: Call for help for domestic abuse male victims
icScotland: Male focus for abuse campaign
STV: Demand for more help for male victims of domestic abuse
The Scotsman: Women launch campaign for male domestic abuse victims
The Press Association: Male focus for abuse campaign

**Marx** · 7th-January-2010

Still nowhere near enough signatures though

**johnkimble1** · 7th-January-2010

A couple of those are now the top stories on those sites.

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