An investigation into narrative identities of male victims of Domestic Violence

在大约三分之一的亲密伴侣暴力事件中，受害者是男性。尽管政府统计数据承认这一点，但目前的政策和规定几乎忽略了这一点。在研究和政策中，对女性受害者的关注一直将男性视为犯罪者，并抑制了对男性受害者身份的承认。这反过来又限制了向他们构成的很大一部分受害者提供支助。叙事认同理论认为，个体根据自己的生活经历所建构的传记故事是身份形成的组成部分。研究表明，这些故事的讲述方式和接受方式对个人如何内化和理解这些故事至关重要。研究还表明，某些叙事形式与心理健康结果之间存在相关性。男性受害者缺乏表达自己故事的机会，这不仅是由于忽视他们存在的社会对话造成的，也是由于对男性气概的看法不允许受害者的存在造成的，这意味着男性受害者的叙事身份的形成可能受到限制，甚至被剥夺，从而影响到他们潜在的心理健康和福祉。由于这一主题的敏感性和深刻的个人性质，本研究提出了一种开放式叙事访谈和分析的方法，以深入了解IPV男性受害者的生活现实。参与者如何构建他们的叙事身份，以及他们在讲述叙事时所采取的主题和立场，可能会让人们更好地理解男性受害者身份的主观现实。反过来，这将为今后与幸存者和受害者的工作提供信息，并有助于在政策和规定中更大、更相称地承认他们的存在。

In approximately one third of incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV) the victim is male. Although acknowledged in government statistics, current policy and provision all but ignores this. A focus on female victims, in both research and policy, has consistently cast males as the perpetrator, and inhibited the acknowledgement of male victim-hood. This has in turn restricted provision of support for the significant portion of victims that they make up. Narrative identity theory proposes that the biographical stories individuals construct from their lived experiences are integral to the formation of identity. Research indicates the way these stories are told and how they are received is critical to how they are internalised and understood by the individual. Research has also shown correlations between certain narrative forms and mental health outcomes. The lack of opportunity for male victims to voice their stories, caused not only by a social dialogue that ignores their existence, but also by perceptions of masculinity that do not allow for victimhood, means the formation of a narrative identity is potentially constricted, even denied to male victims, in turn impacting upon their potential mental health and wellbeing. Because of the sensitive and deeply personal nature of the subject, this piece of research proposes a methodology of open narrative interview and analysis to gain insight into the lived reality of male victims of IPV. How participants construct their narrative identity and the themes and positions they take in telling their narrative, may inform greater understanding of the subjective realities of male victim-hood. In turn this will inform future work with survivors and victims and contribute to a greater, more proportionate, acknowledgement of their existence within policy and provision.