The Fragmented Experience of Male “Victims” of Intimate Partner Violence in Heterosexual Relationships

This study deals with the experience of men coping with violence toward them in heterosexual relationships. The research was conducted using a qualitative paradigm. It was based on 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Israeli men. The analysis focused on the participants’ self-perception in the context of domestic violence toward them. The findings demonstrated the effect of internalizations of socially constructed structural gender expectations on the participants’ self-perception, as a men, spouses and parents. The participants’ narratives exhibited deferent degrees of dichotomist gender perceptions, de-legitimacy for emotional vulnerability, traditional male roles as responsible spouses and parents. These elements intensified frustration and emotional repression of their experience which engendered helplessness and hopelessness. The knowledge generated should serve service providers by enabling professionals to examine IPV in a more holistic and flexible way, and to tailor interventions with men and women, that consider their unique cross-gender characteristics and difficulties.