The narrative that men are wholly responsible for DV in homes and should be held accountable is one falsehood that has been taken too far.

Parents should learn to train up their girl child to realize that verbally, emotionally and psychologically abusing a male child is an action with greater or equal consequence as a male child hitting them. This type of violence negatively affects the mental well-being of the man, hampers his psychological growth, immobilize him, and brings to naught everything he has ever struggled to achieve in a world that constantly tries to make him someone else. To put it more succinctly, the consequences could be far reaching than could ever be imagined.

Those negative words heaped on him daily have profound effect on him, and slowly but steadily, like a brick washed down by water, erodes his self-confidence and self-worth.

Many men have had suicidal thoughts and in some cases committed suicide, suffered other different forms of mental health diseases, lost their jobs and lost out in business because they allowed the verbal abuse from their female partners get to them and redefine their perception about life.

The same way it is morally wrong for a man to hit a woman because it can lead to grave physical harm or even death, it is also not right for a woman to verbally, emotionally and psychologically abuse a man.

The lame defense for the verbal abuse suffered by men in the hands of women is that women are wired to act that way. They are wired from birth to settle disputes via verbal confrontation/abuse. The proponents of this moronic disposition have also forgotten that male kids are also wired to use their fist to settle disputes.

The case of Cecee of the just concluded Big Brother Reality Show comes to mind. She is alleged to have verbally assaulted Tobi for over an hour, and a whole lot of sexist never saw anything wrong with that, or the psychological pains Tobi had to suffer as a result of her action.

The onus is on parents of this generation to teach their kids what is right. You can’t hail a girl child who verbally abuse a male and turn around to chastise the male child when he hits her. Both are wrong and of the same magnitude, anything short of acknowledging this fact is sheer hypocrisy.

If we can have this fundamental area addressed as we raise our kids, with God helping us, DV should be on the decline in years to come.

Who is responsible? The person that stays after the first slap.

ifyalways:
Who is responsible? The person that stays after the first slap.