Male victims of family violence have always lacked the services and support available (many would say insufficiently available) to female victims. Thankfully more services and support are now available to men than were provided decades ago, however lack of services for male victims is still a significant problem that needs addressing.
This article uses a case study to examine how, despite the good intentions of researchers and publishers, an exclusive research focus on men’s violence towards women along with the use of carelessly misleading language can be harmful to male victims of intimate partner violence by inadvertently propping up the “gendered violence” paradigm and thus preventing men from receiving the services and support they need.