Conversations about domestic violence often focus on female survivors, as statistically women are more likely to be the victim of such abuse. However, one shelter in Arkansas is making sure male victims are included in the conversation, opening the first domestic violence shelter for men in the United States.

The Taylor House Domestic Violence Shelter for Men opened in Batesville, Arkansas becoming what is believed to be the country’s first registered shelter specifically for male victims of domestic abuse. It is now joined by The Family Place in Dallas, Texas as two of the country's only male-specific domestic violence shelters. Family Violence Prevention is the Batesville-area nonprofit organization responsible for opening the shelter in Arkansas. “Many people do not realize that domestic violence also affects men,” said Patty Duncan, Family Violence Prevention’s executive director, in an interview with Arkansas Online.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in four men will experience domestic abuse by an intimate partner in some form at least once in their lifetime. One in seven men are survivors of severe physical violence by an intimate partner. One recent report found 40 percent of domestic violence victims are men. An average of 20 people every minute are physically abused by their partner in the United States. It's important we aren't silencing any of those survivors.

It is a societal myth than men cannot be victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. “That doesn’t happen to guys” is just one of the things people say to male assault survivors that is dangerously untrue. The idea that men are “strong enough” to fight back against abuse is rooted in cultural notions of toxic masculinity. The idea that women are “too weak” to abuse men further shames male victims from reporting. The fact remains: anyone can be a victim of domestic abuse, regardless of gender.