‘Shame’ grapples with challenging subject of abused men.
Battered men have never really fared well in pop culture. From the cartoon wife with the rolling pin to the arm-flailing girlfriend, woman-on-man domestic violence is usually played for laughs. But as the creators of Shame point out, 53 percent of domestic violence was directed at men in 2010. That’s nothing to laugh about.
Shame follows the story of Lance, a college student, who must decide how to face his abuse at the hands of his girlfriend, Leanne. Lance comes home yet again bloodied, and his mother is done with it. He’s unwilling to press charges, though, so family tensions rise to a breaking point.
The filmmakers “hope to empower male victims of domestic violence so that they will break the silence of their victimization.” You can rent Shame on line here: Distrify.com.
You all bring up excellent points when you talk about bias, discrimination, silence, exclusion, lack of support and validity from law enforcement, etc. There is no one specific area that can totally explain why our society neglects the fact that men are equally victimized and it’s seldom publicized. And conversely, the solution to the problem will be just as multi-layered, with one layer being awareness, which is what we seek to do with this short film. And who knows, perhaps a feature film on male domestic violence victimization will do for male victims what the use of film media did… Read more »
The problem isn’t one of male silence.Imd be interested to know how you came to that conclusion.The problem is that men and boys face bias and discrimination that prevents their story from being given full recognition.The problem is the gender based, exclusionary practices of certain liberal progressives that control this debate keep men on the outside.Article after appear on GMP and elsewhere and yet we remain stunningly ignorant about the histology of abuse and rape.This is not accidental.
I’d say male silence is at least a part of the problem. With the way men are we are raised we are taught to suffer pain in silence as a part of being a man (unlike women we are taught that suffering in silence i strength). The problem is those “gender based, exclusionary practices of certain liberal progressives that control this debate keep men on the outside” you speak of prey on that old gender role in order keep men on the outside.. And it doesn’t help that it is literally profitable (where profit can be votes, attention, funding, etc….)… Read more »
@ Danny I think ogwriter is getting at is that one reason men are silent is that they are not taken seriously or believed and quite often are further victimized by being the people taken into custody when trying to press charges. It’s amazing how progressives / liberals / feminists can make the argument that women are treated like crap and disbelieved by the police when filing a rape charge so that discourages them from filing charges, but still believe that men can somehow overcome the same exact situation when they are victimized. I remember a conversation with a feminist… Read more »
Let’s hope the film makers drop by and address those concerns for you, Ogwriter.