Domestic violence in Ghana: The attitudes of male victims of Accra

Abstract

The prevalence of domestic violence against males and their attitude  towards reporting is charaterised by the social construct of masculinity which excludes weakness in men and view them as physically dominant over women. Due to these views men are often times viewed as the perpetrators of domestic violence which prevent them from stepping forward to report their experiences. Using a qualitative research design, the study captured men’s attitude and  domestic violence through a phenomenological process to understand the lived experiences of the participants.  Purposive and social network approaches were used to recruit participants of the study and in-depth interviews were done to solicit information from 10 men, hence ten (10) case studies of men. Findings indicate that, domestic  violence cases against men were woefully not reported due to conceived male masculinity, stigma and the fear of not being believed. The study recommends  sensitization to encourage men report cases and address the issue of stigmatization.

Key terms: Domestic violence, male victims, reported cases, attitudes