Several hundred studies from 1970s to 2010s show that men comprise a significant percentage of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) victims. For instance, according to "Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury Between Relationships With Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence", 19% of young men and 28% of young women perpetrated IPV in any relationship. 18.9% of women and 6.1% of men perpetrated nonreciprocal IPV.
In USA and most Western Nations, men who suffer Domestic Violence have very limited options for getting help. According to a study presented in "Can Male Victims of Domestic Violence Get the Help They Need?" by Dr. Denise A. Hines, when male victims of DV called the police, the female abuser was arrested in 17% of cases, the male help seeker was arrested in 26% of cases, while both partners were arrested in 8% of cases. Men who are arrested for DV are much more likely to be convicted then women.
In Modern Western Society, many people believe that Domestic Violence Against Men is acceptable or funny. A Progressive Feminist site Jezebel ran an article called
Have You Ever Beat Up A Boyfriend? Cause, Uh, We Have. Recent DIRECTV commercial called "More For Your Thing: Break Up" features a woman throwing out her ex-boyfriend's possessions, while he is dodging the falling items.
Most women who would perpetrate Domestic Violence against men see no reason not to. They are unlikely to be arrested or charged. They are also unlikely to be censured by society. Many MRAs have argued that violence against anyone is unethical, thus hitting men is also wrong. Unfortunately, on Social Media and Mainstream Media, MRAs are subject to a lot of abuse just for pointing out that men can be victims of abuse and injustice. Most of those who find DV against men acceptable would not be swayed by what they consider misogynist whining.
Domestic Violence against men may not be in the best interest of the perpetrator, since it brings a significant risk of reciprocal violence. That risk can be estimated by survey data.
"Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury Between Relationships With Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence" describes a study of men and women aged 18-28 in 2001. The 5,219 men and 6,151 women have been engaged in total of 18,761 relationships. Out of relationships studied, 76.1% were nonviolent (Table 2), 16.4% had infrequent violence, 5.7% had violence of median frequency, and 2.8% had frequent violence (Table 3). As relationship becomes more violent, the chance of reciprocal violence escalates. In relationships with low frequency violence, 44% was reciprocal; in relationships with median frequency violence, 58% was reciprocal; in relationships with high frequency violence, 64% was reciprocal. Moreover, 70% of all injuries were sustained in a reciprocally violent relationships.
Many people find any suggestion about modifying behavior to avoid the risk of violence to be victim blaming. Nevertheless, everyone who engages in high risk behavior should know the risk probability.