Moroccan Associations Advocate for Male Domestic Violence Victims

Society is used to violence against women, wrongly or rightly treated as the weaker sex. Yet, on the other hand, there are also men who are regularly beaten by women. Moreover, in Morocco, two associations are fighting so that these men, victims of domestic violence, find the courage to come forward to the authorities. For these associations, it is important that the rights of men abused by their wives be recognized. "Since the creation of our association in May 2017, we receive dozens of complaints daily," exclaims Fouad El Hamzi, who chairs the Association for the Defense of Battered Men in Meknes.

Abdelfattah Bahjaji, the director of the Moroccan Network for the Defense of Men’s Rights, says there has been an increase in the number of cases of men beaten by their wives, reported in his structure in one year, from 2,500 men in 2017 to 3,000 in 2018. The subject is still taboo and men do not dare to discuss it with their family, friends, let alone with the authorities. It is difficult to believe that a woman presented as the "weaker sex" can beat, torture, exert psychological, moral violence on her husband perceived as the head of the household. For this reason, they prefer to suffer in silence to preserve their "dignity" as a man and protect themselves from the ridicule of society, reports Le360.

Fouad El Hamzi mentions cases of men who came to complain to his association. Very upset, he recounts cases of imposed witchcraft rituals, cases of economic pressure, where a woman extorts her husband, but also of blackmail related to sex, and even women who impose their lovers on their legitimate husbands. "I am very shocked by the Machiavellianism of some women!" he indignantly exclaims.

The defender of the rights of battered men explains that society tends to focus on women and often forgets that they can be violent and inflict worse on men. This makes it more difficult for battered and abused men, reveals the same source.