Equally Safe Strategy statement clarification: FOI release

Information requested

1. Page 23, paragraph 4, of the Equally Safe Strategy, contains the statement 'when men and boys experience domestic abuse, sexual violence, and exploitation, it is primarily at the hands of other men'. Assuming this is based on data, rather than an ideologically driven hunch, on which data is this statement based.

2. Likewise, in the same paragraph, the statement ' Research suggests that gay, bisexual, and trans men face significant risk of physical violence, sexual violence, and coercive control within their intimate relationships.' is given. What exactly is meant by 'significant risk' and to which research does this statement refer to, please give me the author's, year, and title.

3. If the policy basis itself is ideologically driven, rather than evidence based, what is the rationale behind employing hundreds of social researchers and statisticians?

Response

1. The referenced line sits within the ‘Impact of VAWG on men and boys’ section of the Equally Safe Strategy. This section highlighted that men can also be victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation, and that gender stereotypes around ‘masculinity’ may prevent them from recognising that they have experienced such abuse, and stop them from seeking support for the harm this has caused. The document highlighted that a gendered approach is therefore required to ensure systems understand the differing needs of men and boys as victims, as they may experience abuse in different ways to women and girls, and report different long-term impacts.

A range of sources were used to inform the section and (or) the specific line. There is clear evidence which demonstrates that for serious sexual violence most male victims will have been targeted by men. Over the latest five years of available data, one-in-ten (or 10%) of police recorded rape and sexual assault victims were male, whereas only 1% of convictions for these crimes over the same period were female (sourced from the Police Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland Accredited Official statistics). On the specific reference to domestic abuse of men, we recognise the findings of the associated official statistics and note this may give the reader a different impression of the position. This was not intentional and we plan to issue an errata which replaces the word ‘primarily’ with ‘can be’.

2. Significant risk means that it is likely to happen and will have negative consequences. The following literature is some of that drawn on in considering gay, bisexual, and trans men:

Donovan C, Hester M, Holmes J & McCarry M (2006) Comparing Domestic Abuse in Same Sex and Heterosexual Relationships. (University of Sunderland/University of Bristol)

Donovan C, Barnes R (2020) Queering Narratives of Domestic Violence and Abuse. (Palgrave Macmillan)

Galop (2022) LGBT+ People & sexual violence report. (Galop)

Maxwell S, Stenhouse R, O’Brien . (2022) Men who have been subject to IPV in same-sex relationship (Glasgow Caledonian University).

Nybergh L, Enander V, Krantz G (2016) Theoretical consideration of men’s experiences of Intimate Partner Violence: An interview-based study. (Journal of Family Violence 31(2) 191-202).

3. Scottish Government violence against women and girls policy is informed by a broad literature evidence base (official statistics, academic and grey literature) and the requirements of human rights instruments. The production of Equally Safe included an opening section (Violence Against Women and Girls in Scotland - Equally Safe 2023 - preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls: strategy - gov.scot) on the associated data and evidence, which rightly involved extensive engagement between policy and analytical colleagues. Further information on the role and work of social researchers and statisticians within Scottish Government is available at the links below:

1. About social research - gov.scot
2. About our statistics - gov.scot

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