Every now & then, but not to often, I hear that a Man has been raped, this seems to be a subject that does not get much media coverage, does it happen that often or is it a rare thing?
According to "Silent No More" And according to Wiki Rape by Gender Suffice to say, it happens a lot more than people are willing to admit, especially because of the whole stigma surrounding the role of "Man" and how a "Man" must conduct himself, not show weakness, etc. In the case of males being raped by woman, it's also easily brushed off as "The guy got laid, who cares. Let's move on". Society has a lot of work to do on these fronts.
It's not rare at all, though shedding light on the issue and having brave men step forward to speak up is more uncommon. Male rape survivors fight stigma in Uganda - Features - Al Jazeera English
A LOT, of people I know think its impossible for a guy to get raped. Seriously... I know the statistics aren't high enough to be counted effiencently.
Male rape is one of the least reported crimes, so the statistics we do have are wildly inaccurate and FAR lower than the actual numbers. Our culture associates rape too closely with sex, which leads to soooo many issues when it comes to reporting, prosecuting and healing from it.
Gender roles come with all manner of dark side. This seems to be one of the darker sides of the male gender role; men are supposed to be strong. Therefore, a real man would never allow himself to be raped. A man who came out and claimed he was raped would face ridicule and questioning of his masculinity and since a man born in this system has his ego and self worth precariously set on top of that porcelain column called masculinity, any questioning of it threatens to crack that column and topple the whole mess. Masculinity (or the construct we call masculinity) causes so much damage to the world that it is almost amusing to stop and consider how extremely fragile it really is, isn't it? Like a howitzer sitting atop the horn of a glass unicorn decorating a bathroom shelf.
I have heard about people spiking your drink when you are out drinking & taking you back theirs to rape you, that's scary!
That's why you never leave a drink unattended and only let someone buy you a drink if you walk to the bar with them and have it handed to you by the bartender. P.S. ask girls for safety tips, we grow up learning all this stuff.
The sense of shame in rape victims is often what keeps them from reporting the crime. I can only imagine that in a world where sexism is still ingrained subconsciously in to the mind that the shame is MUCH worse for the average male rape victim. (Put in the position of being submissive/(female) against his will) I'm lucky enough to have no idea what I'm talking about here, everything I say is pure speculation, so feel free to correct me
I think that rape is about power and control. And those are things that all sorts of people want, and someone willing to rape will take it from anyone they can get it from. I also think there are kinds of violence other than direct physical violence. I do think that women by nature won't include PIV sex when they are raping someone, because of the social view of women having sex is different. Women having lots of sex are still, I feel, viewed in a negative way, where it's a good thing when men do it. So with that in mind, I think what happened in Abu Gharib prison was rape by a woman. This wasn't my experience in the military. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about what soldiers and sailors are like as people. People that fit the stereotype do exist but they are the minority. Warriors have always had to be people as well and a lot of them are very good people. If any of my shipmates even thought about trying to rape someone, there would probably be two or three others that would put a stop to it. None of the people I knew would tolerate that out of anyone, and all of them were brave enough to do something. If you had a different experience or knew someone who had, please though don't hesitate to share your pain on my account. I think it's important to be honest when things like rape happen with details. Problems don't get better if they're swept under the rug to be polite. My experience is just that, and yours is yours.
The idea of rape makes me sad....... But in all honesty, I am glad that at very least the chances are maybe less for me than a women? I hope.......
Kind of off topic, but I would say a bigger 'taboo' in the sense of the word is actually cannibalism.
