Can you help us make the case for reforms to laws and policies around so-called Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) crimes — which apply to men too.
VAWG refers to crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls in terms of total numbers — such as sexual abuse, sexual violence, domestic abuse, rape, stalking, forced marriage and so-called “honour” based crimes – but that in fact also affect thousands of victims who are men and boys every year.
The Home Office is now undertaking a review of their Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, this is a crucial moment to make our voices heard.
Defining male victims of these crimes as being victims of Violence Against Women and Girls crimes, is not only factually incorrect, it is also profoundly harmful.
It erases the experiences of male survivors, undermines funding for services to support them, and, impedes public and policy understanding of the extent of male victimization. It compounds the profoundly damaging sense of de-masculinisation that is often a consequence of being a male victim of these crimes.
Have your say!
We invite you to join us in calling upon the UK government to adopt a parallel and complementary National Strategy on Intimate Violence Against Men and Boys (IVAMB).
In order to be most effective, it would be fantastic if all our submissions (even if short) were to reflect the same core arguments – to that end, we’ve created a list of bullet points (see below) that we would ask you to draw upon when making your submission.
These bullets are distilled from our briefing document on why we need an IVAMB strategy, which is available here:
https://www.menandboyscoalition.org.uk/ivamb-strategy/
Please can we urge you to make a submission, even if you do not work directly with male survivors – male victimisation may in fact have a direct or indirect impact on the issues you do focus on, from educational underachievement to rough sleeping to imprisonment.
How to submit your responses to the Home Office consultation can be found below including the email address:
VAWGStrategy2021@homeoffice.gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-call-for-evidence
Closing Date: Friday 19 February 2021
Please share the background above and the bullets below with your networks.
VAWG Strategy Review — KEY POINTS
1. TOP LINE
- Policy regarding intimate crimes against men and boys should be removed from the VAWG strategy & considered separately, in a parallel strategy to prevent intimate violence against men and boys.
2. WHETHER OR NOT THIS REFORM IS IN PLACE
Any strategic framework where relevant to male victim/survivors:
- Should afford male survivors full and unequivocal dignity, recognition and respect. Male victims should never be excluded or marginalized from official policy, documentation or publications, or treated as an afterthought or a footnote.
- Should be driven and informed by the views and experiences of male survivors and their representative organisations. The organisations who represent and speak for male survivors should have male survivors as their sole or primary focus and, where possible, be male survivor-led at organizational level.
- Should acknowledge and commit to addressing the social and cultural factors that drive intimate violence against men & boys and which marginalize male survivors, including public misunderstanding and myths.
3. FOR AS LONG AS MALE VICTIM/SURVIVORS REMAIN PART OF VAWG STRATEGY:
- The VAWG strategy must incorporate full recognition of the Position Statement on Male Victims of VAWG Crimes and commit all branches of government and administration to awareness of, and adherence to, its terms.
- There should be an Independent process to review and quantify the impacts upon male victims/survivors, and the implications for policy and service delivery, of their inclusion in the VAWG strategy. This process should also clarify the legal and practical policy justifications for the inclusion of male victim/survivors in the VAWG strategy.