Between 7 and 10 per cent of men are exposed to either physical or mental abuse at home
“I must be the first man in the Balkans to admit that I have been battered by my wife,” Dusan Stojkovic said with a wry smile, speaking from Serbia’s first safe house for battered men.
It took a lot for the man who is in his fifties to reach out and get help, breaking a taboo in a country where men still cling to a fierce macho image.
Stojkovic has been in the safe house for abused men in central Cuprija, the first in Serbia, since it was founded in July 2009 by the Safety for Men nongovernmental organisation.
“My wife and her daughters (from another marriage) hit me with baseball bats,” he told AFP, thumbing through his thick legal file.
After the beatings, Stojkovic said, his wife accused him of battering her, saying she fought back in self-defence. He assumed this was his spouse’s way to get her hands on his assets: the house and his dog breeding business.
The hardest part for Stojkovic was to convince people that, actually, he is the victim. He was jailed for two months following his wife’s accusations, and when he was released he was ordered to stay away from his own home.
His wife has kept his house, his assets and his business. “All this is the result of the court’s denial that men can also be victims of domestic abuse,” said Verica Zivanovic, a lawyer who volunteers for Safety for Men.
The organisation’s founder Dusan Trifunovic, a former mayor of Cuprija, explained that many men were having trouble getting justice in abusive situations. “Even if they get a court ruling in their favour it is almost impossible to enforce,” he complained.
Stereotypes run deep in Serbia’s still very traditional society.
Even Zivanovic admitted that she suppressed a snigger when she first heard of Safety for Men but said she was stunned by the number of cases similar to Stojkovic’s.
According to the group around a thousand men have contacted the NGO since the safe house opened, most of them following an appearance by one of its residents in a popular talk show.
“There is a lot of interest but our capacity is limited. We can take in only urgent cases,” said Stojkovic, who has become a coordinator for the NGO.
Safety for Men founder Trifunovic said between seven and 10 per cent of Serbian men were exposed to either physical or mental abuse at home.
Few men dare to come forward due to the stigma attached and prevalent prejudices. But men at the safehouse have not only suffered at the hands of their wives. According to Trifunovic a growing number of men say they have been assaulted by their own children.
“When it comes to physical violence Serbian men will not easily admit they were the victims because of the patriarchal society,” where men are considered to be the strong head of the family, Svetlana Acimovic, a social worker in a family and marriage counseling centre, told AFP.
“Men now speak more openly about mental abuse but we still see many more female victims of domestic violence. Over 90 per cent of the people who turn to us for help are women,” she stressed.
Safe house resident Janko Paunovic meanwhile has a practical suggestion to help male and female victims of domestic violence overcome their ordeal.
“They should build the safe houses for men and women next to each other,” he said.
“We will have men and women who suffered there. They can talk about it and who knows what could happen…,” he explained with a hopeful smile. -AFP
August 11th, 2010 | 
Category: 
Male victimization is a universal social problem. Please help us bring more public awareness and services to male victims in the USA…It will have a ripple effect on male victims elsewhere. Online voting (daily) ends August 31st.
Just 2 min. of your time a day over the next 20 days–give under served victims of domestic violence a lifeline
2 minutes…that’s it! Go to: http://pep.si/bTXG4P sign up and click “vote for this idea” and text your vote: Text: 101761 to Pepsi (73774)
The Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women is seeking a $250,000 award from Pepsi for our project to bring public awareness to under served victims of domestic violence. Read what we plan to do with this grant on the Pepsi site: http://pep.si/bTXG4P
We need our help because the public determines, through voting on their favorite project ideas at the Pepsi site, who wins.
VOTE DAILY throughout the month of August: http://pep.si/bTXG4P
The name of our project idea, “Give Under Served Victims of Domestic Violence a Lifeline,” located under the 250K Health category.
**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE**: After you click the link for voting, you will be taken to our Pepsi page. Once there, click the “Vote for this idea” button where you will be prompted to register or sign in. After signing in you MUST CLICK THE “VOTE” BUTTON AGAIN to cast your vote (the “vote” button will disappear and say “Good Job”, “Way to Go” or something like that if you voted correctly).
Don’t forget you can text your vote: Text: 101761 to Pepsi (73774)
FACEBOOK MEMBERS: You can also go to the Pepsi Refresh fb page and get an app there to vote:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Domestic-Abuse-Helpline-for-Men-and-Women/126701164015481?!/apps/application.php?id=263136462520&ref=ts
Voting DAILY thru Aug. 31st. Help us spread the word—post this notice to your facebook and myspace page, your blog and anywhere else you deem appropriate. Ask your friends and family members to vote and do the same. Thank you for helping us bring awareness and services to under served victims.
Control of domestic violence laws by radical (Marx-o-centric) feminists has long been a big problem for men in western countries, especially the U.S.A. Before America dictates to other countries its perspective of moral rights and wrongs, it should clean up its own cesspool of corruption in domestic violence laws, where untold numbers of men’s lives have been ruined by its taxpayer funded domestic violence industry, hate movement – as shown in “Los Misandry.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAmOxvudpF8
Excuse for that I interfere … But this theme is very close to me. I can help with the answer. Write in PM.
У Србија, Жене туку своје мужеве.
Између 7 и 10 процената мушкараца су изложени било физички или психичко злостављање код куће.
“Ја мора да буде први човек на Балкану да признам да сам био разбијен од стране моје супруге”, Душан Стојковић рекао је са искривљен осмијех, говорећи из првог Србија у сигурну кућу за мушкарце разбијен.
То је много за човека који је у педесетим годинама да се допре и помоћ, разбијање табу тема у земљи у којој људи и даље дрзе до жестоке мачо имиџ.
Стојковић је у сигурну кућу за злостављане мушкарце у централном Ћуприја, Србија прва у, јер је основано у јулу 2009 за безбедност за мушкарце невладине организације.
“Моја жена и њене ћерке (из другог брака) ме је ударио са бејзбол палицама”, рекао је АФП, тхумбинг својим дебелим правног датотеку.
Након премлаћивања, Стојковић је рекао, његова жена га оптужили да је њен баттеринг, рекавши да она поново су се борили у самоодбрани. Он је преузео то је његов супружник је начин да јој руке на његову имовину: кућу и његов узгој паса посао.
塞里安妇女殴打自己的丈夫。
七至百分之十塞尔维亚男子从妻子脸上的暴力行为。
في صربيا ، 7-10 في المئة من الرجال يواجهون العنف من الزوجات.
V Srbsku, 7 až 10 procent mužů čelí násilí ze strany své ženy.
ในประเทศเซอร์เบีย, หญิงตีสามีของตน
ในประเทศเซอร์เบีย, 7-10 เปอร์เซ็นต์ของเพศชายได้ตีโดยภรรยาของพวกเขา.
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