When a woman is abused, there will most likely be some uproar (whether it be by the police or by the public) however when a man is abused the reaction is slightly different. In the rare cases where male abuse is reported, most people either ignore it or claim that he should have 'taken it like a man'.
Having abusive partners is not exclusive to females, however female-on-male or male-on-male abusive is never acknowledged, or at least not in the same way male-on-female abuse is. In fact a lot a men don't speak up about their abuse, because society has conditioned them to believe that asking for helping shows signs of weakness, and that they should be able to take whatever mental or physical abuse they are subjected to.
This almost silence when it comes to male abuse I believe stems back to this idea that men should be these strong, emotionless people; when a male is being abused, either mentally or physically, they probably subconsciously believe that because they are a male they should just take it.
I hate the phrase 'like a man' because it implies that showing any vulnerability makes you weaker or I suppose this phrase implies it makes you 'like a woman'. The silence has to stop, men who are being abused in every situation should be given more opportunities to speak up without being told they need to 'man up'.
