It's something that's starting to change. Men are much less likely than women to report being physically abused by a partner, and if a man shows up with a black eye or cut lip, people will assume he's been a fight, no big deal... whereas if a woman shows up with the same injuries, people will press her to find out what happened and to do something about it. A large number of men are victimized by partners because they don't want to fight back and because they don't dare to. If there's a domestic fight, the police will automatically haul the man away, regardless of who was acting in self-defense. The assumption is that a man can somehow magically protect himself against a woman hitting him with an object without harming her. (Again, in movies and Tv you see this where a woman can punch a man square in the face and he hardly blinks.)
The perception is starting to change and likely will come to more people's awareness as time goes on.