When we think of abuse or domestic violence, we don’t often hear or think about the husband being the victim. It’s usually the wife who is the reported sufferer.

Yet more and more it’s coming out into the light many husbands are victims of spousal abuse as well. Not as many as women, true, but it still happens.

So why don’t we hear about husbands being abused by their wives? David L Fontes, Psy D, in the article titled, Men Don’t Tell gives insight into several reasons. 

He writes: “When a man is a victim of his wife’s physical abuse he is both shamed by the assaults of his wife and shamed by society for not ‘controlling’ her better. Today, men are not made to ride backward on donkeys, but they are still considered ‘wimps’ for letting their wives beat them or for complaining about their wives’ attacks. For many men ‘Taking it like a man’ means don’t complain and don’t show you are vulnerable or in pain!

“With the prospect of being viewed as ‘wimps’ and/or having the assaults by their wives not believed or minimised by the general public and law enforcement, it’s no wonder few men report their abuse or discuss it openly.”