Although the two groups have more in common than not, experts say male sexual assault victims are often left to deal with certain issues that female victims might not face. Research suggests more than half of all sexual assaults in the United States go unreported. ……….. Men represent a small but significant share of the nation’s sexual assault victims. According to data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, 11 percent of sexual assault victims between 1992 and 2000 were male.
Less than half of all victims of rape and sexual assault, regardless of the victim’s gender, report the crime to police, according to Department of Justice data. In 2010, 51 percent of all rapes and sexual assaults went unreported, down from 77 percent the previous year.Male victims tend to be even less likely than females to report instances of sexual assault, said Ken Elliott, director of UCO’s Violence Prevention Project. That unwillingness to report incidents comes mostly from social pressures and expectations regarding men and boys, he said.Americans tend to believe that disclosure of vulnerability is a sign of weakness, particularly among men, Elliott said. So male victims of sexual assault often worry they’ll be seen as effeminate, he said, or that they’ll lose the respect and support of their family and friends.Straight victims may fear others will perceive them as gay, he said, and gay male victims may worry that others will think they deserved the assault, or invited it in some way.The fact that male victims tend not to report being sexually assaulted leads to greater feelings of isolation among those victims, Elliott said. Although a sexual assault is a traumatic, life-changing event for anyone, Elliott said, female victims often have more resources available to them, such as survivors’ networks.Worse, said program coordinator Wendy Joseph, male victims are less likely than females even to bring the assault up in conversation with another man. Whereas female victims may know another woman who survived an attack, male victims are often left without a support network of any kind, adding to their feelings of isolation….A 2005 American Journal of Preventive Medicine report showed roughly one out of six boys are sexually abused before age 18.Making people aware of numbers regarding sexual assault targeted at men and boys is important, Elliott said, because it could help reduce the stigma surrounding it. Ultimately, he said, it could make male victims more willing to report the abuse and seek help.”They are not alone,” he said. “It takes a real, strong man to talk about these kinds of vulnerabilities.”excerpts taken from article written by SILAS ALLEN, The Oklahoman
