Lagos Records Surge In Gender Violence Against Men

The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team has recorded increase in the cases of spousal assault against men in the first six months of 2021.

The DSVRT said it recorded 194 cases of partners abuse against men between January and June this year while 108 cases were recorded against men in the first six months of 2020

The figure was reported in DSVRT’s latest bi-annual report.

The six months figure represented a sharp increase in assault cases among men over last year’s report.

Despite the surge, more females were still at the receiving end of assault by their partners in the state.

The DSVRT said that it attended to 1,329 cases involving adults from January to June in the latest report. Eighty-five per cent of the reports were female victims, with male victims taking the remaining portion.

The data revealed that 77 per cent of the adults were married, 11 per cent single, seven per cent widowed and divorced, while five per cent were cohabiting.

The DSVRT Coordinator, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said that there had been a steady increase in reported cases of gender-based violence on the part of both men and women in the state since 2014.

She, however, said that men had more difficulty reporting incidents of assault due to cultural norms.

She said, “Patriarchy is an enemy of everybody because it keeps people in silence. From a young age, males are not allowed to express themselves when they are experiencing trauma, and that lingers on to adulthood. When a man is experiencing violence, even his fellow men mock him, and such a person will not be able to speak up.

“With the data we are seeing, we are confident that when men are aware, they can report these incidents. They will be treated with empathy and professionalism, and they can be encouraged to speak up and report.”

The DSVRT report revealed that, of the 1,329 adults, 1,236 were aged between 18 years and 45 years, while 93 were 45 years and above.