Intimate partner violence myths toward male victims: Exploring gender, sexism, and participant perpetration and victimization

Intimate partner violence is a pervasive social issue with significant consequences for individuals and society. However, the acceptance and recognition of partner violence continue to be hindered by the prevalence of myths and stereotypes specifically in the case of male victims. The purpose of this study was to create and evaluate a newly established measure of myths about male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in terms of its psychometric properties. Several hypotheses were investigated to examine the relationships between gender, gender-specific system justification, sexism, and individual experiences of IPV victimization and perpetration as predictors of myths about male victims of IPV. A sample of 247 cis-gender men and 266 women completed an online Mechanical Turk survey about domestic violence. Results showed that hostile and benevolent sexism toward men accounted for most of the variance IPV myths toward men, followed by gender-specific system justification, and perpetration of IPV against an intimate partner. Findings suggest that deeply rooted sexist attitudes and traditional gender norms drive the belief in myths that minimize male IPV victimization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)