BBC London, Inside Out reports on men who are fighting for equal treatment when it comes to domestic violence
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| George: taking men's rights into the 21st Century |
George
Rolph is 6ft 4in. He weighs in at 14 stone and is a trained karate
instructor.
But now he is directing his energies towards fighting for men who
suffer domestic abuse.
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| George is on a mission |
Recent
research indicates that men are as just as likely to be on the receiving
end of domestic abuse as women.
George says: "One young man, who'd been married two weeks, had hot
fat poured on his lap for changing the channel."
Despite his size and martial arts expertise, George was also a victim
of domestic abuse.
George says: "She came upstairs carrying this large square of half
inch ply wood. She brought the edge of it down on my head."
George was physically and verbally abused. Unfortunately, he is
not alone.
Many men don’t fight back, physically or legally, due to a lack
of knowledge about what can be done and because they fear the kind
if response they will provoke.
George
says: "Men dismiss you if you say a woman is beating you up. For
a start they look at you with contempt a lot of the time."
George is trying to encourage men who live with domestic abuse to
come forward and admit the problem. This is the first step in any
case of domestic violence.
He has started a UK based website, Man2Man, where men come to talk
about their ordeal with others.
Despite this, the help for abused men is still decades behind the
women's movement.
In 1971 Erin Pizzey opened the world’s first refuge for battered
women in London.
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| Erin fought for men |
Even
then she struggled to bring the issue of battered men to the fore.
Erin says: "As soon as I opened the first refuge for women in Chiswick
I said I need a home for men. But I couldn’t raise a penny for men."
George and others who have suffered are on a mission to publicise
the problem.
One victim says: "My wife attempted to kill me by smashing my head
in front of my children. All she got was a caution."
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| Victims take a stand |
George
is sure that things won’t change until the government highlight
the problem and back action to prevent it.
He decides it’s time the campaign is taken to the top. He heads
straight for City Hall and the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone.
Find
out how Ken Livingstone reacts when George challenges him to finally
address the issue of domestic violence against men.
| Domestic
Violence: The facts
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Around 15% of men say they have been physically assaulted
by a partner at some time in their lives.