Male Victims of Sexual Assault:
Phenomenology, Psychology,
Physiology

http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/reprint/39/2/197

hugs mj hope u r ok

Thank you for posting this.

Quotes from the above link:


Although adult male sexual assault is increasingly
recognized as a problem, the literature unanimously
acknowledges the data on the subject to be limited,
when compared with data on female victims.

Many of these phenomena are illustrated by Donnelly and Kenyon,
21
who surveyed 41 different agencies, including law enforcement agencies, hospitals,
medical facilities, mental health agencies, and community crisis or rape crisis centers, all of which advertised themselves as rape crisis or sexual assault services providers in an area telephone directory in the
state of Georgia. Of the 30 agencies that participated
in an in-depth interview, 11 indicated they did not
provide services to males; 10 were theoretically able
to serve males but had never done so; 5 had dealt with
at least one male in the past; and 19 were amenable to
providing such services, but only 4 of them had done
so in the past year. Among the facilities that either
had never seen male sexual assault victims or were
unable to provide services to male victims, common
stereotypes abounded:
Many believed that men couldn’t be raped or that they were
raped only because they “wanted to be.” One law enforcement representative bluntly stated, “Honey, we don’t do
men. . . . What would you want to study something like
that for? Men can’t be raped.”. . . Other respondents indicated that they did not treat men because . . . “so few get
raped” [Ref. 21, p 445].
Another law enforcement representative asserted that
“We don’t have too many [males] that are unwontedly sodomized. If they are, they don’t come to us to
report it . . . [T]hat leads me to believe that there is
just not a problem” (Ref. 21, p 445).

The last section of quotes does a good job of driving home a point I have expressed to some community, state and online organizations the last few months. I do not mean to speak for all ASA men but think I am right on some points of generalities.

I think we, ASA men, have to have it spelled out for us. I have tried to attend things with general titles - meetings, forums and presentations on abuse/assaults. I would leave disappointed for there was nothing really there for me. I know I am hesitant to think that the title of an article, book or meeting has anything to do with me.

The places that were polled above came to the conclusion that there were not many men who had been sexually assaulted or that they just did not wish it reported so it was not really a "problem". I will refrain from expressing the truly asinine attitudes these statements represent. I find it so amazing that folks and organizations that are to help provide insight are so blind to their own short comings.

My thought after reading the above statements was that the "sign was not on". If I am seeking lodging and the "Vacancy" sign is not on then I will not stop. Did they stop to ponder if their organization was open to male victims? Did they look at their pamphlets and how they communicate their services to the community? Did they hold meetings to see why men did not feel they could come there for services? Did they even ponder their own role and responsibility in reaching out to the men?

I did not see that kind of depth in their responses to the poll. What I saw was "we are here if they want to come".

Just my thoughts on it. Not saying there are not good people working at these places doing good work. Just not covering the entire population they are funded to serve.


Daryl

I will often read things geared toward CSA victims or female victims of abuse, not because they are for me, but because I have people who are very close to me (i.e. my wife) who experienced that, and I really want to help them. There is this sense, though, that it is not for me, and I wish there was something that was for me. Yes, we do need things S-P-E-L-L-E-D O-U-T.

The vacancy sign analogy is a good one. I think it would be great if MS could put something on the front page specifically welcoming ASA survivors, for example. I don't think the vast majority of rape crisis centers/therapists/National orgs like MS don't post that vacancy sign specifically because they don't care, although for some that is the case. I think a lot of times, it's a matter of not knowing what to say. I just wish that I could talk to a therapist or go to a place where they DID know what to say. And I wish there were people/books out there that could better empower friends/families of adult male rape survivors and healthcare professionals to know what to say, because people have said some pretty stupid, ignorant things to me.