Joshua Aspiring Journalist

After reading an article on domestic abuse in the Galloway News, I was absolutely shocked by the statistics (212 cases of domestic abuse recorded in 2023 in Dumfries and Galloway) the idea of it horrified me, and most likely many other people, and I couldn’t get it off my mind. It is just so crazy that a place like the peaceful Dumfries and Galloway would have such high counts of a horrible crime such as domestic abuse. I would have expected these kinds of figures, from a place similar to where I used to live, the busy area of Kent.

I noticed this article was about domestic abuse against women, the stereotyped victims of crimes such as domestic abuse, sexual assault, etc. The lesser heard of victims of these crimes are men.

Men are forgotten when you speak to someone about domestic abuse or sexual assault. Although it doesn’t seem like it, I found that one in seven men (13.9%) are victims of domestic abuse and 1.2% of men had experienced sexual assault in the UK, when I first looked at this I thought that it wasn’t that much, however, 1.2% of men is equivalent to 275,000 men, 4 times the population of men that reside in Dumfries and Galloway.

Even the #metoo movement, a campaign to end sexual assault, uses the Venus symbol, or more commonly known as the female symbol for multiple reasons to show something is ‘for’ women. Showing that it is truly thought that sexual assault only has female victims.

I have also found that the idea of male victims of sexual assault is often played up for laughs in culture. It has become so normal that it is shown everywhere from movies to YouTube. Jokes such as ‘dropping the soap’ are thrown around like casual banter and not a cruel reality that some have experienced.

It isn’t just shows like Family Guy, Rick and Morty and South Park (shows known for being offensive) that include these comedy bits. Movies I watched when I was younger, such as Ace Ventura and Aladdin, commonly use these jokes but in a much less vulgar manner. Recently it has personally disturbed me as a 15-year-old boy.

These TV shows and movies genuinely joke about, without consequences, things that can happen to any man, even celebrities that you would see on TV every day. Drake Bell, the former star of Drake and Josh, talked about his experience with an older member of staff and his coach, Brian Peck. According to Drake, while sleeping on the couch, he woke up to Brian Peck sexually assaulting him when he was a 15-year-old boy. This story shook me, and most likely anyone else, to the core.

While it is more likely for women to experience these vile horror stories than men, 1 in 4 women experience domestic abuse while 1 in 7 men experience domestic abuse, more awareness needs to be shown about men and domestic abuse and sexual assault and it should not be ‘Ok’ for men to be mocked after sexual assault.