La violenza sugli uomini: sfatiamo un mito

Nel mio ultimo post abbiamo discusso dell’indagine di Lara Stample “The Sexual Victimization of Men in America: New Data Challenge Old Assumptions“.

Secondo Stample, gli stereotipi di genere – soprattutto quelli inerenti alla mascolinità, che descrivono il maschio come “sesso forte” e la femmina come “sesso debole” – sarebbero la causa della tendenza maschile a non denunciare le violenze subite, soprattutto se chi ha perpetrato la violenza è di sesso femminile:

“…the notion that “real men” can protect themselves, and the fallacy that gay male victims likely “asked for it,” pose obstacles for males coping with victimization.

(…)

Feelings of embarrassment, the victim’s fear that he will not be believed, and the belief that reporting itself is unmasculine have all been cited as reasons for male resistance to reporting sexual victimization.”

Ma è vero che la paura degli uomini di “demascolinizzarsi” denunciando un abuso, rende invisibile la violenza perpetrata dalle donne sugli uomini, che sarebbe in realtà un fenomeno molto più diffuso di quanto emerge dalle ricerche sul tema?

A proposito di questo “mito”, scrive Michale S. Kimmel, in un lavoro dal titolo “Male Victim of Domestic Violence: A substantive and Methodological Research Review” (pag.12):

In response to the notion that men would be too ashamed or humiliated to call the police or go to the hospital if they were beaten by their wives, available empirical evidence suggests a very different picture: that men are actually more likely to call the police, more likely to press charges, and less likely to drop them (Schwartz, 1987; Rouse et al., 1988; Kincaid, 1982; Ferrante et al, 1996). This makes sense in the terms outlined above, as women would be more likely to forgive being hit, normalize it with statements about how he really does love her. Another study found that men under-report the violence they perpetrate against women by 50% (Edelson and Brygger, 1986). Dobash and his colleagues (1998, p. 408) found a useful measure of the gender asymmetry in reporting – the women’s narrative descriptions of the events of their experiences are far longer and more richly detailed, entering the narrative at a much earlier point in the unfolding drama, and extending the narrative to include injuries and other consequences.

Secondo Kimmel, e i dati empirici disponibili da lui citati in bibliografia, gli uomini – rispetto alle donne – sono più inclini a chiamare la polizia, più inclini a fare causa e meno disposti a lasciar cadere le accuse.

Sulla base dei dati, Kimmel conclude che, a dispetto di quello che normalmente si pensa,

“…men under-estimate their own violence and over-estimate their victimization, while women over-estimate their own violence and under-estimate their victimization.”

Ovvero: gli uomini tendono a minimizzare la violenza perpetrata e ad esagerare quella subita, mentre al contrario le donne tendono a sovrastimare la violenza che perpetrano e a sottostimare quella subita.

Per citare dati più recenti, farò riferimento a The Official Website of New York State, che a proposito di violenza domestica scrive:

The Myth:  The number of female abusers only seems small, because most male victims are too ashamed to contact law enforcement or domestic violence services.

The Reality:  There is little evidence that male victims report abuse significantly less than women do. In 2008, for instance, an estimated 72% of IPV against males was reported to police, vs. only 49% of IPV against females.  When men don’t report an incident to police, they usually say it’s because they see it as a private or personal matter, not that they feel ashamed and embarrassed. Some male victims want to protect the partner who assaulted them – just like female victims do.

(…)

Male domestic violence victims who come to law enforcement attention are more likely to be future suspects for domestic violence than female victims. One study found that:

• 41% of male victims who were later involved in new incidents of IPV were identified by police as suspects in the new incident, compared with only 26.3% of women.
• Only 26% of male suspects were later identified as victims, vs. 44% of female suspects.

Similarly, male victims of IP homicides are much more likely than female victims to have previously abused their eventual killers.

It was also found that women’s physical violence was more likely motivated by self-defense or fear while men’s was more likely motivated by control.

Chi scrive concorda con le conclusioni di Kimmel, rilevando che non solo le vittime di violenza domestica di sesso maschile sono più propense a rivolgersi alle autorità per denunciare la partner o l’ex partner, ma che, molto più spesso di quanto capita per le donne, gli uomini identificati come vittime risultano successivamente sospettati di aver agito con violenza nel contesto di una relazione sentimentale.

A proposito delle motivazioni che spingono a servirsi della violenza, in “A Review of Research on Women’s Use of Violence With Male Intimate Partners” possiamo leggere che

“women’s physical violence is more likely than men’s violence to be motivated by self-defense and fear, whereas men’s physical violence is more likely than women’s to be driven by control motives”.

ovvero che per le donne, l’uso della della violenza nel contesto di una relazione intima, è più spesso motivato dall’esigenza di difendersi o dalla paura, mentre per gli uomini la violenza fisica è uno strumento di controllo del partner.

Alle stesse conclusioni porta l’analisi dei dati dell’articolo “Why Do Women Use Intimate Partner Violence? A Systematic Review of Women’s Motivations“:

“…women’s motivations tended to be more closely related to expression of feelings and response to a partner’s abuse than to the desire for coercive control.”

Se andiamo invece a guardare cosa ci dicono i dati a proposito delle conseguenza della violenza agita sulle vittime, scopriamo che

“…women suffer disproportionately from IPV, especially in terms of injuries, fear, and posttraumatic stress.”

Alla luce dei dati concreti, insomma, gli articoli che con grande enfasi proclamano la necessità di rivolgere maggiore attenzione al grave, diffuso e ignorato problema della violenza femminile sugli uomini, sembrerebbero confermare la tendenza maschile a sovrastimare quanto subiscono e minimizzare la violenza che perpetrano.