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Abstract: 

In this issue, we publish a provocative article that addresses the issue of male victims of domestic violence, and two replies from experts who disagree with some or most of the article’s premises, methods, and conclusions. We believe that it is important to highlight this issue—both its existence as well as the specific form of victimization (coercive control) that the authors identify. Nevertheless, gender asymmetry is real: most perpetrators of IPV are male and most victims are women. Women are more likely to suffer from multiple forms of victimization and to be victims of more severe physical violence by their intimate partners. When taken together with the well-accepted phenomenon that abusers minimize, deny, blame and dissemble when asked about their harmful conduct, research on self-described male victims requires a methodology that does not take at face value male victims’ allegations of victimization at the hands of their female partners. The complete issue contains all of the articles listed in the table of contents above.

Keywords: Coercive Control; Male Victims of IPV; UK Serious Crime Act 2015; Gender Equality and the “Nordic Paradox”; Home Invasions and Domestic Violence

Affiliations:  1: Hastings College of Law.