Male Rape Essay

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crime, burglary, or white collar, men are always the majority. Finding statistics on that is easy, but what about the ratio of male victims to female victims? “Approximately 1 in 71 or 1.9 million men in the United States have been raped in their lifetime” (Crime Information and Statistics). Compared to “Nearly 1 in 5 or almost 23 million women in the United States have been raped in their lifetime” (Crime Information and Statistics). Men are so often seen as the aggressor that it overshadows people’s ability to see them as the victim, which results in a lack of reports and therefore, a lack of statistics. Males can be the victim of any crime and a large percentage of them are. It is just a matter of what is being reported and the perception
A lot of male rapes are same sex assaults. So when a man is assaulted by another man, he fears being seen as weak or having lost his manhood. Historically, the rape of a defeated male enemy was considered a right of the victorious soldier in some societies and was a signal of the totality of the defeat. “Gang rape of a male was considered an ultimate form of punishment and, as such, was known to the Romans as punishment for adultery and the Persians and Iranians as punishment for violation of the sanctity of the harem” (Factsheets). Since the Roman times, the rape of a man has been negatively stigmatized. Men were raped for being failures and terrible warriors. Society has always viewed the raped of a man by another man as something to be ashamed of and something to hide. This then creates a hostile environment for the males who want to come forward and confront their abuser. When a male rape victim decides to make a report or press charges they now have to deal with unsympathetic attitudes and sometimes unsupportive statements from their friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers. In the case of male rape victims, the victim is often criticized instead of the offender; especially when the offender is a woman. As mentioned previously, society views men as strong and durable. So when a man says he was assaulted by a woman, whom society views as weak and fragile, it
In John’s report he states “‘After my attack I was suicidal, and in desperation called a Rape Crisis helpline, but the woman said, ‘This service is for women only,’ and hung up on me…” (Daubney). It is moments like this that prove there is not only a lack of care for male rape victims but also a lack of professional resources. The Rape Crisis hotline does not specify that the hotline is only for women but the services they provide are only geared toward women. John probably didn’t think to call a male rape victim hotline in his time of need because there aren’t many that are made known to the public. This is not to say that services for male rape victims don’t exist but public knowledge of them is slim to none. Some resources for male victims include “1in6, Father 's Touch, Dr. Richard Gartner 's Web Site for Male Victims of Sexual Abuse, For Men Only, From, Darkness to Light , Hope for Healing” (Resources for Male Survivors). All of these resources are specifically focused on helping male rape victims recover from their assault and heal their emotional wounds. These are just a few of the resources available to the male

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