Violence against women and girls is ‘a men’s issue’
MICHAEL SHEEN has called on men to speak out against violence targeted at women and girls.
The Port Talbot actor, 52, said domestic abuse was “a men’s issue” and made clear it was not a war of the sexes.
He gave the message as part of the online Stand Up To Domestic Abuse event.
Sheen said: “Violence against women and girls is a men’s issue.
“We need a growing movement of men to stand up and speak out about men’s violence against women and girls.
“It calls us to delve into parts of male culture that have either been historically apathetic about it or openly hostile to women’s efforts to engage them. We have to do more.
“The movements like today are created and built by women, should we applaud this or be frustrated that men have not been part of this. Are we ready to ask women to step aside and let us lead this or to stand together to end it? “Gendered violence, what is it? “Sexual assault, domestic violence, relationship abuse, sexual harassment, sexual abuse of children – these issues have always been seen as women’s issues that maybe some good brave men help get involved with. These are not women’s issues, they are mainly men’s issues, we need to own this.”
Figures from the Crime Survey from England and Wales reveal that 74% of victims of domestic homicide were female for the year ending March 2016 to the year ending March 2018. The statistics for non-domestic homicide paint a different picture, with 87% of the victims men.
The overwhelming majority of female domestic homicide victims are killed by men. Of the 270 female victims of domestic homicide for the year ending March 2016 to the year ending March 2018 the suspect was male in 260 cases. In 218 of the 270 female domestic homicide cases between those same years, the suspect was a partner or ex-partner. Fortythree male victims were killed by a partner or an ex-partner over the same timescale.
In a study of 96 cases of domestic abuse it emerged that men were significantly more likely to be repeat perpetrators and significantly more likely than women to use physical violence, threats and harassment.
Over a six-year tracking period the majority of recorded male perpetrators – 83% – had at least two incidents of recorded abuse, with many having a lot more than two. In one case a man had 52 repeat incidents.
The majority of women, a total of 62%, had only one incident of abuse recorded and the highest number of repeat incidents for any female perpetrator was eight.
It was also found in the study that men’s violence tended to create a context of fear and control, which was not the case when women were perpetrators.
A total of 83% of high-frequency victims who were subjected to more than 10 crimes were women.
In the year ending March 2019, 92% of defendants in domesticabuse related prosecutions were men. The majority of victims were female (75%), while 16% of victims were male and in 10% of cases the sex of the victim was not recorded.
Sheen said: “These are our daughters, mothers, sisters, colleagues, neighbours, communities, these are our friends. These are people, not numbers, how we use our language to talk about domestic abuse is literally life-saving or not. Let’s look at how we think and use language, this is how we take the focus off men.”
He added: “This is a deeprooted systemic social problem: society is allowing and creating perpetrators of abuse. Perpetrators are not some deviant or sicko that only comes out at night from a swamp and then goes back once the act of violence or rape has been committed. Perpetrators are much more normal than that, they are our sons, fathers, brothers, our colleagues, neighbours, communities – these are our mates.
“Women who have been speaking out about this for years have been called male bashers, men haters, so society and men have demonstrated it’s easier to shut the mouth of the messenger. Men must see what women have been seeing for years. Men need to speak up, they need to stand with women and not against them – it’s not a war of the sexes.
“We need to stand up and challenge abusive men. To women, your silence is consent to those who abuse – speaking up, standing up will end domestic abuse.”
■ Confidential support and information for anyone experiencing sexual violence, domestic abuse or violence against women in Wales, call the Live Fear Free helpline: 0808 8010800 or email: info@livefearfreehelpline.wales