[Un] Masking Domestic Violence against Men in South Africa

Abstract

Gender-based violence is a vexing issue in the present-day South Africa. It is an apex
challenge engendered a variety of initiatives from the South African society; communities
and government rising to fight against it. This is because gender-based violence threatens the
socio-economic growth of the country. This involves its effect on productivity, leadership,
health, and business facets of South Africa. Many scholarly studies, campaigns, talk shows,
and documentaries have reflected on the destruction that gender-based violence causes for
women in the country. It is women who are proclaimed to be victims of gender-based
violence, and the latter is found to be a hindrance to their social, political, and economic
progress. However, this qualitativestudy identifies male gender-based violenceas the gap in
the literature as little has been done to raise awareness about the plight of men amid the
appalling gender-based violence. Abuse against is also a critical problem that tends to be
overlooked and this necessitates the need toundress gender-based violence against men. The
study has drawn from a minimum of five narrative cases of male domestic violence which
were snowballed from daily sunnewsletters. It concluded that it is socio-cultural notions, inter
alia, that perpetuate the mystification of men being immune to domestic violence, and as a
result, it has become difficult for victims of male gender-based violence to „come out of the
closet.‟