Many women don't realize they're in an abusive relationship either. People in this situation often try to rationalize it "oh, he only hit me once, he's not really like that," or "oh, she only slapped me once, she's actually a good person." Try not to let your gender bias get in your way of seeing the truth.
There are plenty of sources listed here that you can follow up on, but most of the sources I've seen that actually take domestic violence against men seriously actually indicate that it is more common than domestic violence against women. Something like 60% of the instances of abuse are initiated by women.
The severity of the abuse is obviously much more skewed towards male aggressors though. Men are obviously bigger and stronger (generally), so they hit harder and can take more abuse before needing hospitalization.
Also, no one sympathizes with a man who is abused by his female partner. Not only do men feel emasculated, which can cause them to never report issues, but also people don't take them seriously. Did you know that in most states, regardless of who was the aggressor, the male in the relationship is always arrested? That's right, even if you call the police with visible scratch marks or bruises that were caused by your female partner, they will arrest you, not her. I understand that these laws exist because women often had no recourse or protection, but I think the pendulum has swung too far and men just don't have access to any resources or protection in the face of the law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence_against_men
There are plenty of sources listed here that you can follow up on, but most of the sources I've seen that actually take domestic violence against men seriously actually indicate that it is more common than domestic violence against women. Something like 60% of the instances of abuse are initiated by women.
The severity of the abuse is obviously much more skewed towards male aggressors though. Men are obviously bigger and stronger (generally), so they hit harder and can take more abuse before needing hospitalization.
Also, no one sympathizes with a man who is abused by his female partner. Not only do men feel emasculated, which can cause them to never report issues, but also people don't take them seriously. Did you know that in most states, regardless of who was the aggressor, the male in the relationship is always arrested? That's right, even if you call the police with visible scratch marks or bruises that were caused by your female partner, they will arrest you, not her. I understand that these laws exist because women often had no recourse or protection, but I think the pendulum has swung too far and men just don't have access to any resources or protection in the face of the law.