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Intro

For the past couple of years, a vast number of coalitions and programs for abused women which are
too numerous to mention have emerged across countries with their efforts to promote and campaign
against intimate partner violence whilst protecting the rights and welfare of these women victims
(Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). This is because feminist views have been prevalent within societies with
its emphasis on violence as a gender and power inequality in opposite-sex relationships. It focuses on
the societal messages that sanction a male‘s use of violence and aggression throughout life (Pence &
Paymar, 1993). Indeed, rarely do we imagine men as the victims. Rather, the view of husband-as-
victim of domestic violence is more likely a subject of cartoons (Saenger, 1963) or of jokes about
"hen- pecked" husbands (Wilkinson, 1981).

The thought of abusive relationships are often and automatically associated to the idea of a woman as
the victim and a man as the perpetrator. However, men too are victims and women too are
perpetrators (Thomas, 1993). There are several Abusive behaviors experienced by abused men in a
relationship.

Abusive behaviors are exhibited by coercive actions used to dominate, terrorize to maintain power
and control over a former or current intimate partner (Saltzman et al. 1999). With this, there are five
forms of abusive relationships: (1) Physical, (2) Sexual, (3) Emotional, (4) Verbal threats of violence,
and (5) Controlling Behaviors. The most common abusive act which is physical violence involves
slapping, hitting, kicking and beating. For sexual violence, it occurs when a person is forced to
unwillingly take part in sexual activity and if the partner does something to make his/her partner feels
stupid or worthless, emotional or psychological abuse comes in. It includes insults, belittling,
constant humiliation, and intimidation, threats of harm and taking away of children. In terms of
verbal threats of violence, it refers to someone using a language, whether spoken or written, that
causes harm or threat to an individual. Lastly, controlling behaviors happen when someone uses
threats and causes fear in an individual to gain control. This includes isolation from family and
friends, unreasonably monitoring their every movement, controlling an individual‘s financial
resources without the person‘s consent or misuses those resources, restriction of employment,
educational and medical freedom and other kinds of assistance (World Health Organization, 2002).

For the past decades, it can never be denied that the victimization of men by their women partners is
a serious social problem yet largely and sadly ignored by the society. With common and expected
conditions pointing out as females being perpetrated and males as perpetrators, society tends to
overlook the likelihood of male victimization. Past research have presented cases of male abuse that
strongly recognizes the fact that men can indeed be victims of abuse yet still ignored by many.

With this study‘s orientation towards a Philippine context, it ensures sensitivity towards diverse
cultural differences and backgrounds given that Filipinos practice a shared set of unique customs,
traditions, beliefs and practices separate from other countries. As we take into consideration the
unique and diverse Filipino background of abused men, and since social approval, acceptance and
protection are major concerns of Filipinos, (Mercado, 1994) we can truly appreciate how culture
heavily plays a role on men‘s decisions for staying in the relationship.
Thesis statement

Any admission that one has been beaten up by one‘s wife is an admission that one is not ―really a
man (Freeman, 1979). Men who disclose their abused state becomes the laughing stock of their
friends and acquaintances. (Shuler, 2010). Society absolutely dictates men to be continually silent
about these cases and avoid disclosure because the thought of being ridiculed by society is worse
than the effects of the abuse.

Scope and Limitation

The study focuses solely on how do these abused men be given interventions with this IPV in the
context of Philippines setting. The study discusses and explains the sides of abused men which are
uncommon and rare in the Philippine culture and setting. Despite of the concrete information that
previous researchers have gathered from the participants, this study also has its limitations. One
limitation is that since the research only focuses on men in heterosexual relationship, it excludes
abused men in a homosexual relationship. Second limitation is that this study merely focuses on the
interventions of abused men that will serve as their legal grounds for protection and does not include
on why these abused men still continue to live in an abusive relationship despite of their experiences.
Consequently, it is recommended for the future researchers who want to conduct a study of similar
nature to also explore the side of those abused men in a homosexual relationship and investigate if
there are similarities and differences between heterosexuals and homosexual relationships
considering the occurrence of abuse.

Theoretical Framework

The study is qualitative in nature. Qualitative studies dwell more on descriptions and interpret the
experiences of an individual thus gaining a better understanding of concepts. According to Hancock
and colleagues (1998), qualitative research involves a clear, well-organized, systematic approach in
finding things out. Moreover, it tends to focus on how a certain individual can have his or her own
look at the reality.. It focuses on reports of an individual‘s experiences and data which cannot be
articulated numerically. Moreover, it also focuses on descriptions and interpretations that might lead
to developments of new concepts or theories (Hancock, Ocklefor, &Windridge, 1998). With this, it
would help the researchers to produce plausible and coherent explanations of the phenomenon under
scrutiny.

Out of the many approaches to the Qualitative method of research, the researchers preferred to use
the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). In this study, the IPA is utilized as a framework
for analyzing qualitative research (Smith & Osborn, 2007). The theoretical roots of IPA have been set
out briefly in order to help researchers decide whether the approach is relevant for
their research questions in particular. IPA was used to analyze data from one-on-one interviews in
order to develop clear descriptions that may help illuminate human experience (Fade, 2004). IPA was
applied for this study with its aim of a deeper involvement and a closer examination of the
experiences of the participants. This would help the researchers to understand the lived experiences
of abused men in particular and how their experiences make sense.

The researchers believe that using IPA was the best method in understanding and exploring more our
research due to its descriptive way of analyzing the experiences of the participants.

Definition of terms:

Intimate Partner Violence - Intimate partner violence, which is often referred to as domestic violence
(DV) describes as the excessive and repeated psychological/emotional, physical, sexual, verbal
threats of violence and controlling behavior directed towards ones intimate partner (Tjaden &
Thoennes, 2000).

Abuse - any action that intentionally harms or injures another person. exhibited by coercive actions
used to dominate, terrorize to maintain power and control over a former or current intimate partner.

Physical Abuse - involves slapping, hitting, kicking and beating.

Sexual Abuse - occurs when a person is forced to unwillingly take part in sexual activity

Emotional Abuse - something to make his/her partner feels stupid or worthless. includes insults,
belittling, constant humiliation, and intimidation, threats of harm and taking away of children

Verbal Abuse - refers to someone using a language, whether spoken or written, that causes harm or
threat to an individual

Controlling - includes isolation from family and friends, unreasonably monitoring their every
movement, controlling an individual‘s financial resources without the person‘s consent or misuses
those resources, restriction of employment, educational and medical freedom and other kinds of
assistance

Abused men- Person that receives harmful, illegal and immoral act from another person.

Perpetrator - person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act.

Legal grounds - refer to a rational motive, basis for a belief or conviction, for an
action taken, such as a legal action or argument; reason or cause
Protection – benefit or safety which the government affords to the citizens

Rationale :

Critical cases of men victimization have been unequally viewed by society due to the feminine
concept of intimate partner violence and because of this double standard, cases of abused men
suffering from abusive relationships is sorely neglected by many.

A voluminous literature now exists that portrays domestic violence where women are seen as the
victims and men perceived as the perpetrators (Dobash & Dobash, 1988). Most of the early research
dealing with domestic violence focused solely on the female victims and the social factors that
supported the victimization of women (Smith, 1989). According to Hines, Brown, and Dunning
(2007), one reason that male victims of severe intimate partner violence by women have been
ignored in the typology is that they have rarely, if ever, been systematically studied.

Thus, with the limited recognition of these incidence experienced by abused men most especially in
the Philippine context of research, this study is a societal breakthrough as we the researchers fills in
the gaps of the insufficient research regarding abused men‘s reasons and personal justifications on
why they stay in abusive relationship by facilitating a detailed and a well-elaborated discussion of
their personal experiences.

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