Male Rape Myths

Abstract

The paper highlights the concern of rape with male community in our society. Studies explain that sexual assault and abuse also includes the gender of male. The paper gives an overview concerning the recent researches and facts about the male rape myths that further requires consideration towards it. Male rape is particularly studied under the both female and male perpetrators and in relation to that heterosexual and gay will be discussed for the certain support to the male victim.

Male Rape Myths

Introduction

Rape is a sexual assault which can happen to both women and men of any age. It is a forced and unwanted action that is completely depended on the strength to have sex. The rapist applies violence, force or even threat to get control over the person to be raped. U.S (FBI) defines rape as, "The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim." Majority of the rapist use drugs to stop the ability of another person to defend her or himself. Rape is strictly prohibited and a great crime, whether person commits with date, stranger, family member or acquaintance. The UNO on Drugs and Crime defines rape as "sexual intercourse without valid consent”. The objective of the paper is to highlight the selective review about the male victims of sexual assault and rape.

Discussion Analysis

It has been observed since 1970's that females raped victims have got great exposure in the world. There are number of support plans designed for women to prevent them from this happening. Whenever we heard about rape, a quick glance comes of the sexual harassment with feminine, however the sexual assault of adult males have not gained such popularity nor even proper attention in the research (Stermac, Sheridan, Davidson, & Dunn, 1996). We have found that there is no apparent strategy of society to deal with this significant issue (Rogers, 1998).

Rape Myths about Male Victims

It has been observed that there are only few known rape myths about male victims. Initially the research has named the following beliefs:

Men who are sexually assaulted by men must be gay (Stermac, Del Bove, & Addison, 2004)

Being raped by a male attacker is identical with the failure of masculinity (Groth & Burgess, 1980)

Men cannot be compelled to sex against their will (Stermac et al., 2004)

Usually men are ready to allow on the opportunity related to sex (Clements-Schreiber & Rempel, 1995).

It has been observed that men are not that affected by physical attack than women (Stermac et al., 2004)

For instance, according to the study of Smith et al.'s (1988), a male victim of a female- committed physical attack is more likely to promote the assault, enjoy the encounter and also experience very little disturbance. In the cases of women, there are different perceptions of both men and women about rape, if the men is being raped by women, he will quite enjoy and would not ...