Dear Editor,
SOME men have been victims of gender-based violence (GBV) for a long time. The unfortunate part is that most of these men who are victims keep quiet. This should not be the case.
Gender-based violence takes many forms such as physical, verbal to mention but a few. Some men have been abused physically by their spouses in the confines of their homes. On the other hand, these men have suffered verbal abuse at the hands of their wives.
However, the men who are the victims of gender-based violence feel shy to report their spouses to the police for fear of embarrassment. These men fear that they can be made a laughing stock if they report that they have been abused by their spouses.
What is common is that women are abused by men and not the other way round. The crux of the matter is that either a man or a woman can be abused. The perpetrators of gender-based violence regardless of gender should be reported to the Victim Support Unit (VSU) at the police post or police station.
For men to start opening up for being abused by their spouses, there is need for sensitisation. The stakeholders such as the civil society organisations should come on board to sensitise men as the victims of gender based violence to report the GBV cases to the police.
The worst scenario has been that some men have either been killed or maimed by their violent spouses using lethal weapons such as the guns, knives and iron bars among others. All these incidents occur in what is termed as the crime of passion.
The way forward is that men who are abused by their spouses should open up by starting to report the gender-based violence cases to the law enforcers, the police.
It is unfortunate that most men who suffer gender-based violence fail to report the cases to the police for fear of embarrassment. However, this should not be the case under normal circumstances.
ELEMIYA PHIRI,
Lusaka.
