Male Rape Victims ... Student Perspective

Rape Male Victims

    The definition of rape according to dictionary.com is, ¨unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of thevagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by asex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim.¨ We are all familiar with hearing about rape cases about a girl getting raped. But what about men rape?

    According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between 9-10% of rape victims surviving out of criminal institution are male (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994; TAAS, 2014). The U.S. Centers for Disease control in 2005, reported that 16% of man are raped by the age of 18. The U.S. Department of Justice also reports that more than 12,00 number of man are being raped annually. But it predicts, that if all male rape cases were called, then there would be 60,000 cases (Department of Justice, 1994). But, why don't all man that get raped come forward and present a case? Why so little?

    “For all gender identities survivors, anger, anxiety, fear, confusion, self-blame, shame, depression, and even suicidal thoughts are all common reactions for someone who has experienced a sexual assault.” (https://sapac.umich.edu/article/53). Males lean more towards getting angry and minimize the assault of what it really is. They are also more likely to abuse of substances such as alcohol or drugs to cope living with the experience. Men also may have a harder time presenting a case since they may like what the other person is doing, ejaculate, or get an erection. But ejaculating and getting erections is actually a way of responding to the intensity of fear or pain, and it doesn not mean that you consent. After getting raped, males may feel they are not true men due to the stereotypes of men. Males may have a hard time reporting a case of rape or telling someone because they were not ready to have sex and were not the aggressor in the sexual relationship. Plus it is extra hard if the aggressor was a woman since men are expected to be strong, protect themselves, and always be aware. They feel they will be mocked and will be ashamed because of it for the rest of his life.

You may wonder, if he is a man, and the aggressor is a woman, why does he not over power her? He is stronger, why does he just push her off? Well, when victims are being sexually assaulted, any gender, the victim takes a state in which it is feels as if the person has been frozen. They cannot do any physical resistance to stop the harasser because they are “frozen”.

Rape caused by a male to another male can also confuse the victim to what gender they feel attracted to. Because, if they got an erection or ejaculated while getting raped with another male, they might think that they are gay. Having ejaculated while getting raped by another man, may generate question to other people if the victim is gay or not. The victim might also feel that they will have to make clear if they like man, woman, or both. A tool man aggressors can use to other man is homophobia. Homophobia is used to keep power and control in the situation.

Although more cases of rape of woman are reported and we know of, rape male cases also do happen. Woman rape cases might be more known because of stereotypes and/or people are more comfortable with the image that only females get raped while males don’t. But male rape is just as sever as female rape. Man can go through the same effects of rape just like woman, except pregnancy. Men and female go through the same things and we need to help both. When we think about rape we associate it with a men towards a woman. But what about the male victims? Do they not matter? If we want to help male rape victims we have to make them known. Male rape victims matter.

​Author: Lucas Gr 8 Student