Who will speak up for the forgotten victims of domestic abuse? – Helen Martin

WOMEN who endured abusive male partners have been even more mentally, physically and emotionally tortured during the Covid lockdown.

Green MSP Alison Johnstone wrote a good Platform in the Evening News last week which highlighted, explained and promoted new emergency laws to help victims.

Back in 1992, I represented the Evening News editorial at the initial meeting of Zero Tolerance launched by Edinburgh District Council’s women’s committee. The successful plan was to launch loads of four massive posters around the city addressing men’s violence against women and children. It was a feminist campaign that made headlines and encouraged all to be aware and condemning of such evil men.

After a discussion with the editor, we agreed I wouldn’t return. Why? Because I had known two men, one a fellow journalist, who was abused by his wife. For me, Zero Tolerance to domestic violence and abuse was a great idea, but not when it excluded male victims.

There are several different assessments but just two years ago the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, for example, lodged that around twice as many women as men suffered domestic abuse (7.9 per cent and 4.2 per cent, or 1.3 million women and 695,000 men). That’s the tip of an iceberg because most don’t report their abuse. Male victims may be violently abused by male partners – or female partners. Men are just as likely to keep that secret (perhaps even more so) because they are embarrassed, and like women they want to stay with their children.

Today we are in a better time of gender equality than was the case in 1992. But I still don’t understand why domestic abuse campaigning is only concentrated on female victims.

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