WHY THIS AFFECTS EVERYONE
The World Health Organization defines domestic violence as any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm. That includes physical assault, emotional abuse, sexual coercion, and controlling behavior.
In 2014, the World Health Organization released the Global Status Report on Violence, a study that represented 6.6 billion people, about 88 percent of the world’s population. It included data on violence against women, youth, and the elderly.
When it came to men, the only categories were homicide and gang related violence.
There was no global data on men as victims of domestic violence.
That absence matters because what the World Health Organization and the United Nations track becomes the foundation for national laws, funding, and public awareness campaigns across the world.
When men are excluded from data, it shapes how governments create policies, how courts make decisions, and how society views men in the family.
THE MISSING HALF OF THE DATA
A year ago, I started looking deeper, and what I found changed everything.
Men are not part of the global conversation about intimate partner violence.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations only collect data from women.
Men are not surveyed. They are not included in most reports or research.
When the world looks at domestic violence statistics, half the truth is missing.
If the data does not exist, the problem does not exist.
When something is not measured, it is not funded, studied, or addressed.
This is how an entire group of victims has been erased from the story, because no one ever asked the question.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The world has made enormous progress in protecting women from violence. Now it is time to extend that same protection to men.
Reports on violence against children are gathered only from women’s surveys.
Fathers’ experiences are invisible in the very data that guides global child protection systems.
When one side of the story is missing, the entire picture becomes distorted.
This affects real people. Fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands.
Even if you have never been abused, this still matters.
Because it affects the world you live in. It affects justice, families, and how our children learn what fairness looks like.
And if you believe it does not affect you, there is a one hundred percent chance it affects a man close to you.
When we ignore half the truth, we live inside a system that cannot heal anyone completely.
WHY I TOOK THIS ON
I never planned to become an advocate.
It happened after years of listening to men share their struggles. Almost half of the men I have worked with have quietly shared stories of domestic abuse. The same stories exist within my own family and circle of friends.
Many of these men did not realize what they were describing was abuse.
No one ever taught them what emotional manipulation, control, or coercion looks or sounds like when it happens to men.
No one teaches men how to recognize it.
So they normalize it. They take the blame. They convince themselves they are bad partners or not strong enough.
There is no space in society for men to name what is happening to them, so they carry it quietly until it breaks them from the inside out.
I could not unsee what I saw. I could not ignore the men sitting in front of me. Strong, kind, capable men carrying pain they never felt safe to speak about.
So here I am.
This movement is about truth.
It is about a broken system that was built with good intentions but forgot to include everyone it was meant to protect.
This is a problem that has shaped men, women, and children for generations.
Men deserve to be seen, believed, and supported just like anyone else.
Shame only lives in silence. The moment we speak, it loses power. When the world starts listening, healing can begin.
THE TRUTH FROM THE COUNTRIES THAT DO ASK MEN
Some countries do ask men.
And when they do, the data tells a very different story than the one the world has been shown.
