Don't Look Away | Men can be victims of gender-based-violence too

Men must be assaulted so severely that they wind up in the hospital, where they must account for their injuries, before admitting that they are victims of gender-based violence.

This was said by Captain Johan van Dyk, spokesperson of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Tshwane.

Van Dyk highlighted this during Motor Industry Staff Association (MISA) webinar session that the stigma that men endure in society for being victims of GBV is so severe that he was unable to obtain any figures for the previous six months while preparing.

"Women can be abusers too, including physical, verbal, emotional or financial abuse. Neither the Constitution, Harassment Act nor the Domestic Violence Act refers to the sex of the abuser.

"But the reality is if a man needs a safe house for him and his children, there are none. The system doesn’t cater for a father that might need to flea his home with his children in the middle of the night," Van Dyk.

Van Dyk stated that, while acknowledging the gravity of GBV and femicide against women and children in South Africa, it is important to increase awareness that they are not the only victims.

He mentioned that Van Dyk had to intercede in a situation when police officers laughed at a man who wanted to file a police report after his wife slapped him.

"It is already a big embarrassment for a man to come forward. The female abuser often getting an interim protection order against the man. The fact that he is the one being abused will only come to the attention of the court once forced to play voice recordings and videos of the threatening behaviour of the abusive wife.

"That is why the police are trained to treat both parties impartial and without any bias," said Van Dyk.

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