One in five domestic abuse victims is now a man
One in five incidents of recorded domestic abuse in Scotland now involves a man being the victim, new figures show.
Figures published by the Scottish Government reveal that over the last decade the percentage of male victims has almost doubled.
In 2005/06 only 12% of victims who reported domestic abuse, and had their gender recorded, were male. In 2014/15, that figure was 20%.
Year after year we are seeing the number of men reporting domestic abuse increase and the barriers that these men must overcome are not to be minimised.
Commenting on the figures, Aaron Slater, support manager for Abused Men In Scotland, said: "Year after year we are seeing the number of men reporting domestic abuse increase and the barriers that these men must overcome are not to be minimised.
"It is promising that the First Minister has made domestic abuse a key priority for her government and we would expect to see further developments as to how this increasing number of male victims will be addressed by the government."
Although the number of men being abused has increased, the vast majority of victims remain women.
The figures recorded by Police Scotland show an overall increase in cases of domestic abuse – with a total of 59,882 reports made last year, up 2.5% from the previous year.
In 13% of those cases no gender was recorded for the victim, of those that did 80% of the victims were women, with men making up the remaining 20%.
Along with the release of the figures, the Scottish Government announced a £3 million funding package for specialist services to help both male and female domestic abuse victims.
Advocacy service Assist will receive the funding over the next three years to continue its support and advocacy services, helping vulnerable female and male victims have the confidence to report crime.
Mhairi McGowan, head of service for Assist and domestic abuse services at Community Safety Glasgow, said: “We very much welcome this commitment from the Scottish Government to support victims of domestic abuse.
“Our service supports both female and male victims through the court process and we know how difficult and dangerous domestic abuse can be. It is vital that services supporting victims have a really good knowledge of the risks victims face; of how perpetrators undermine and manipulate all aspects of a victim’s life and of the strength that it takes to put one foot in front of the other and survive it.”
Justice secretary Michael Matheson added: “The work that Assist does provides a lifeline for both female and male victims of this terrible crime and makes an invaluable contribution to ensuring access to justice for survivors as it supports them through the court process, which we know can be challenging.”
