When sexual violence is thought about, many people associate it highly with women being assaulted by men -- and given statistics, that's often the case. But there's still at least around 10% of victims that would be ignored if that were to be the only group associated as being victims of sexual assault. Forgetting about the other groupings of victims alienates them, possibly making them feel invalid in what had happened to them in addition to the shame, guilt, and PTSD they may already experience from just the instance alone.
Some worries that male survivors of sexual violence may worry is if they were homosexual, they were assaulted because they were gay. They may feel self-loathing and lose their self-respect and connection within the community. Heterosexual males may also experience fear that their sexual orientation may change into becoming a homosexual and they may question themselves as a man. Anyone and everyone's relationships may be affected negatively as they may feel withdrawal from any sort of physical intimacy as their emotions may become harder to control.
RAIIN (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network) is one among many organizations to remember to include men as potential victims of abuse and acknowledge them, raising visibility of their cause. They operate the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE that helps assault victims for free at any time and has helped more than 1.5 million since they began that service.
https://www.rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/male-sexual-assault
-Elijah Zagorski
Hi Elijah! I think that as a society we don't look much at men being the victims of sexual violence. However, looking up information for sexual violence against women, I notice that a lot of organizations are now looking at men being victims as well. I've yet to notice any kind of website specifically mentioning anything specifically about the male though. The website that you provide gives a lot of interesting information regarding specifically males who have been sexually assaulted which is great. I found it interesting that men could be confused why they are sexually aroused when they are being sexually assaulted. It isn't something mentioned that women could be confused about which is showing that male victims and female victims can have separate reactions to sexual violence, which is good since different genders have different things that they can be concerned over when they look for support. I also really liked that this website included different sections for possible effects on heterosexuals versus homosexuals. It seemed like some of the effects under each are linked to some social norms. The website mentioned under the heterosexual section that they "may experience a fear that assault will make them gay". Some will think that having sex with a male could turn them gay. I think that we as a society make this fear up. This is a great website to gain information and insight from and would be a great organization to get help if you were to need it. Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDelete-Ali Marnon
What a great article Elijah! It is so crazy to me that we manage to forget that women are not always the only victims of sexual assault. I can totally see how a man could lose faith in his own masculinity and feel unsure about his sexuality. Sexual assault is such an awful thing, no matter who experienced it. One thing that really stuck out to me was the feelings that a homosexual survivor tended to have. It is so sad that they generally blamed their assault as being punishment for their sexual orientation. This is such an unfair justification. If a straight person doesn't feel that their assault happened because they were straight, why should a homosexual person feel that they were assaulted because they are gay? Nobody has the power in our society to make that decision anyway! The double standards are very disappointing.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Jump
Thank you for bringing up male abuse victims! It is highly overlooked because it is seen less, but I feel like ignoring it is kind of like ignoring minorities because there is less of them. I remember reading a really awesome story about this topic, and I searched for it but can't find it to save my life, and I remember a really great quote from it. It has to do with trafficking and it's from the kidnappers point of view so be warned.
ReplyDelete"I decided to train men because I wanted a challenge. As it turns out, they are easier to break. Want to know why? Men are taught that they are the aggressors, that they can never be victims, and when they become victims, they are ridiculed for their in-masculinity."