Have your say

I do feel that there is not enough mention of male rape. Whatever way you look at it rape is rape wheather it happens to a women or a man. Even though the majority of rape happens to women there still needs to be some light shed on this horrible, degrading, disgusting crime.

Author: Louise, Female, Scotland
Date: 16/08/2010

Because, while yes, male rape does happen, there is not a culture of misogyny and acceptance that tells male victims that it was their fault they were raped. They aren't told because of the way they were dressed, they were raped, they aren't told they should have been more modest, they aren't told they let it happen, and they're now a slut to be discarded.

Author: Jess, Female, England
Date: 08/09/2010

Exactly what Jess said. On an individual level, rape of men is horrifying and highly traumatic. On a societal level, it is far less common, and there is not a culture backing up the concept of men "asking for it".

All rape is unacceptable. Rape of women by men remains by far the most common type of sexual violence, which is why this campaign focuses on it.

Author: Cat, Female, England
Date: 05/01/2011

Cat and Jess, are you kidding?

I mean when you say there is not a culture telling men that it is not their fault when men are raped. About 1/2 of women I've talked to about this issue believe that men cannot be raped because if they have an erection it means they must want it. While males are raped far less frequently a much lower percentage of them are willing to report it because it's extremely humiliating and emasculating to admit that you were raped if you are a man in most any culture. I think society is even more adverse to allowing male rape survivors to deal with the rapes.

Author: Greg, Male, Lancaster
Date: 14/06/2011

The reality is, by being male, there is privilege behind the victim. A man who is raped is less likely, or entirely not likely, to be told that by-being a man, he is provoking his assailant. We do not live in a culture of misandry, in which women believe that they are entitled to the bodies of men, or a culture where men are encouraged to sexually objectify other men, so there is already a sense of comfortability when a man is the victim in many situations.

Nowhere is there a culture, backing up the notion of: "HE was asking for it! HE deserved it! It's HIS fault!" Women are often blamed for things done against them, men are not.

The taboo of male rape is something derived from hyper-masculinity on a whole. At the end of the day, what happened to your friend is wrong, but rape culture does not dictate that it was his fault. That is the privilege of being male.

Author: Raquel, Female, Ontario, Canada
Date: 28/07/2011