J Fam Viol (2009) 24:447-462 DOI 10.1007/s10896-009-9240-9 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Asian Male Domestic Violence Victims: Services Exclusive for Men Monit Cheung . Patrick Leung . Venus Tsui Published online: 19 May 2009 C Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract The main reasons abused men do not seek social services include their strong endorsement of social/cultural values and avoidance of gender role conflict. Through internet-based service connections, we did not find sources in Asia, Australia, or New Zealand that advertised programs exclusively for male victims of domestic violence (DV). Nine social services in Hong Kong and Singapore describe their work with men in DV situations, but the main focus is "men as perpetrators." Targeting men as victims, 32 sources in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom describe services designed especially for male DV victims. Findings demonstrate that services for male victims must address such factors as secretiveness, cultural values, masculine identity, tolerance, shame, and loss of face. Keywords Spouse abuse · Male abuse victims · Abused men · Hong Kong . Singapore · Australia . New Zealand · Canada · United Kingdom · United States · Internet services · Asian men · Help seeking behavior · Losing face · Masculine identity According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion (2006), "Intimate partner violence (IPV) is abuse between two people in a close relationship ... [including] current and former spouses and dating partners" (p.1). In M. Cheung ([X]) . P. Leung . V. Tsui University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4013, USA e-mail: mcheung@uh.edu P. Leung e-mail: pleung@uh.edu V. Tsui e-mail: sftsui@uh.edu general, domestic violence (DV) and IPV are interchange- ably used although DV can involve more than two persons in conflict such as spouses and their children. According to American Psychological Association (2001), DV is "an ongoing pattern of behavior, attitudes, and beliefs in which a partner in an intimate relationship attempts to maintain power and control over the other through the use of psychological, physical, and/or sexual coercion" (p. 3). Control and power are forcefully obtained through physical abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation, emotional abuse, economic or financial abuse, and spiritual abuse, and a person may be subjected to more than one form of abuse. DV affects people of all ages and both genders. A number of studies reveal that both males and females reportedly experience direct aggression in interaction with intimate partners (Archer 2000, 2002; Gelles 1999; Richardson 2005). Based on the annual projection from the results of National Violence Against Women Survey, 1.5 million women and 835,000 men are victims of physical violence by their intimate partners (Tjaden and Thoennes 1998). Brown (2004) found four times more female victims (81%) than male victims (19%) in partner violence reported to police. Although DV statistics on Asians are not readily available, three studies indicate that males are the hidden victims. In a study focused on family violence, Yoshioka et al. (2000) found that 15% of the Vietnamese American respondents saw their mother regularly hit their father.