Gender Attitudes and Domestic Violence against Men in Literature

Abstract

Domestic violence remains a burning issue within the family and indeed in society. It has become common in society to see women, rather than men, being beaten, abused, and murdered by their intimate partners. Consequently, several scholarly works dwell more on domestic violence against women while ignoring or paying inadequate attention to the male experience. As a result, the present study examines domestic violence against men perpetrated by women through the lens of literature in Igbo. Ofomata’s novel, Ihe Ọjọọ gbaaAfọ… (1999), was purposively selected. Dollard et al.’s (1939) Frustration-Aggression Theory was employed as an analytical guide. The result shows that men suffer domestic violence, as epitomized in the protagonist Ikenna, who suffered constant abuse from his wife, Nkemdilim. Ikenna was subjected to verbal abuse, public scorn and humiliation, as well as physical attack, all by his wife. As a result, he suffered isolation from his family and friends, started avoiding his home, and resorted to drunkenness as a coping mechanism. In the end, Ikenna suffered low self-esteem and depression as a result of his wife’s aggressive tendencies. The paper argues that women, like men, are perpetrators of domestic violence. However, men hardly cry out or report the abuse on them due to social stigma. Domestic violence against men should be condemned or eliminated, just as violence against women, because of its negative consequences on the abused and collateral effects on society.

Keywords: Igbo Literature, Igbo Novel, Igbo Culture, Gender Attitude, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), Gender-Inclusive Violence (GIV), Male Victim, Female Perpetrator, Theories of Domestic Violence