Male Rape Research Paper

There are 525,600 minutes in a year; every 2 minutes a sexual assault occurs. That’s an average of 293,066 victims every year (Langton and Truman 2). Rape cases have made headlines in national newspapers, and have gone viral on social media. Recently, the public’s reactions to these stories have become a problem of its own. Campaigns have been established to help raise awareness of this backlash that rape victims experience. Some common responses from the public after an assault are, “She was asking for it.” “She shouldn’t have been drinking.” Many people naturally associate the pronoun “she” with sexual assault. These campaigns focus on reduction backlash against females, but what about male victims? The reality is that rape is not gender
However, sexual assault happens at work, in homes, and when out with friends; places considered safe. Consequently, the issue of male rape doesn’t seem as important as female rape because statistically it is not a significant problem. According to Silent Suffering, an article about male rape survivors, only around 4% of sexual assault victims report their assaults (Badenuch 2). The pressure to be a “true man”; along with the negative stigma attached to male rape, leads to the lack of reporting. Henceforth, the world does not see the extent of male sexual
Men are expected to be strong and tough. When a male is sexually assaulted many people, friends, co-workers and even family may blame the victim. They should have fought off the perpetrator. As a result, they can even ask themselves if they really are “True men”, “When men fail to achieve societies' gender ideals, it can be harmful to their sense of self and identities as men” (Javaid). Many men feel the need to conform into these gender ideals to be accepted by society. In the documentary, The Hunting Ground, a student, Andrew Brown explained the reactions he received from the public after his assault. Andrew quoted, “Men have to be Strong, men wouldn’t let this happen to them”. Public response, such as these, can make a male victim feel weak and almost feminine. Male rape victims feel as though they no longer fit into the ideal masculinity