Recently, in Bulgaria, the subject of domestic violence is often discussed. It gives the impression that it is often associated with women, and more publicity is given to cases with female victims. Sometimes the media spread stories of women abused at work or on the street. It is essential to clarify that domestic violence is always between persons who are related or have been in a family relationship or in de facto conjugal cohabitation. Persons who are not affiliated with family relationships or de facto cohabitation, such as colleagues, cannot participate in the so-called domestic violence. Also, victims of domestic violence can be men and children. Definitely, women can be abusers too.
It is to talk about the abusive relationship between husband and wife. These are the most common cases of domestic violence. Intentional or not, no one talks about the mental abuse many women inflict on their men. Men are often described as violent, rude, aggressive, emotional beasts who beat their wives. Sometimes, however, this is not the case. It is difficult to support these claims with statistical data in Bulgaria because there is a lot of misinformation, and reports in which men are victims are rare.
While a male victim sounds hard to believe, a child victim sounds like something that might not be true. What does that mean? Often, mothers, grandmothers, fathers or grandparents, in their way of raising a child, exceed the normal limits. The physical act of raising children and young people in Bulgaria is sometimes not perceived as an act of violence. Therefore, this concept is often overused. In support of the fact that violence against children is as widespread as against women are also the reports of various foundations. We focus on a sensitive topic - sexual abuse of children. Reviewing the legal practice in Bulgaria, we come to the conclusion that this is not rare at all. In support of this are UNICEF reports, which note that the rate of sexual violence is 15.6%, which places it in third place in terms of frequency, preceded by emotional and physical violence. Uncles, fathers, grandfathers, and even brothers systematically sexually abuse children with whom they are related. The sexual act is far from the only way of exerting violence on the victim. Intercourse is often not even present. That is why children and even adults cannot understand that it is violence. Because the misinformation is so significant that when fornication is done with minors, everyone knows it's wrong, but no one realises it's part of domestic violence when a relative does it. UNICEF provides detailed information on sexual violence and clearly explains the forms of sexual violence. Early marriages are also affected as a form of violence. Child marriages are considered normal in some ethnicities, but we can definitely agree that they are often arranged for economic gain. In the above reports, these marriages are pointed out as a form of violence that the youth are unfamiliar with.
Sexual violence, early marriages, and emotional and mental abuse are among the topics that young people are not familiar with because there is a severe lack of information or the information that is available is incomplete.
