Within
the last thirty years, the issue of sexual assault has unfortunately risen to
the forefront of the national spectrum, its poison-dripped thorns stabbing and
scarring individuals in every garden, its toxic aroma asphyxiating individuals
everywhere from bustling cities to rural and destitute villages to every
college campus. But despite the extent to which we are aware of where sexual
assault can occur, our society
continues to embody and perpetuate the stigmas of sexual assault. These stigmas
not only dictate that female victims of sexual assault must have been dressing
provocatively or consuming extreme quantities of alcohol prior to their attack
and therefore must have invited or
“misled” their perpetrator, but also ignore an entire population that for
years, has also been torn and severed by the epidemic of forced sexual
intercourse: men.
Remembering
that anyone, regardless of their sexual identity or orientation, can be forced
to bear the weight carried by a sexual assault victim often flies over our
heads. Indeed, for the most part, our media and political systems have, in
their efforts to protect young women from being attacked by a male assailant,
cast an iron curtain on men as a whole. We tend to think of rape as a disease
that selectively casts its scars upon the skin of females in the midnight black
realms of city alleyways and cockroach-infested motels.
Hanna
Rosin, a journalist for the publication SLATE, attempts to open this curtain by drawing upon several case reports, such as
one by the National Crime Victimization Study, which in late 2013 reported a
startling statistic: in a sample of 40,000 households in which rape or sexual
violence occurred, 38% of incidents were against
men. Building upon this startling fact,
Rosin goes on to comment about the alarming trend in male-reported sexual
assaults, which sheds light on the wide variety of environments in which sexual
assault against men occur and remain under the radar of authority activism. In
addition, Rosin breaks the trend of gender-biased reporting by aiming the
spotlight of truth at another seldom-discussed concept: women, just like men
can be perpetrators of sexual assault.
Recognizing
that men can be victims (over 45% of whom, according to Rosin’s report, report
being attacked by a female) is a dire importance to health professionals
because males and females often react to sexual assault in different ways. On college campuses such as the University of Michigan, opening our minds to the nature of rape will allow us, as students, to devote our attention to making a positive change and not silencing any voices. Grouping male and victims together not only limits the effectiveness of
treatment for post-traumatic stress, but also radiates the message that rape
victims lose their identity after being attacked. If psychologists and
physicians wish to treat sexual assault victims both equivocally and
whole-heartedly, we must first work, as a nation, to open our minds to the
gravity of sexual assault and channel our efforts towards cutting it at the
roots. Male rape is more than a casual prison joke. It is a real problem that needs a solution. And we are the ones to provide that solution.
Questions for Reflection
How do our personal approaches to the topic of sexual assault affect our overall understanding of what it means to be a sexual assault victims? Do our conversations and words work to promote or eradicate the stigmas surrounding sexual assault? Also, do we unintentionally establish an environment of hostility towards male victims through our mechanical association between sexual assault and young women? What can we do to make a difference?
Source(s)
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/04/male_rape_in_america_a_new_study_reveals_that_men_are_sexually_assaulted.html
http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/women-sexually-assault-men-92099
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