Male Rape Myths: Understanding and Explaining Social Attitudes Surrounding Male Rape

Abstract

<p>This paper provides a critical review of the literature surrounding male rape, aimed at exploring how male rape myths shape society’s responses and attitudes to male victims of rape and integrates the literature from a theory driven perspective. In doing so, this theoretical paper reveals information relating to the barriers to recognition of male rape. These barriers are male rape myths that prevent male rape victims from coming forward and seeking the support that they merit. There has been a lack of research on male rape myths, although some research has documented such myths to be present in practice. These myths could be harmful because they may influence societies’ opinions of male rape victims, so this could affect the treatment and responses toward such victims. To understand and explain such myths so some attempt can be made at eradicating them, this paper will explore common male rape myths that seem to be prevalent in Western society. This paper will examine male rape myths in the areas of media, incarcerated settings, and the wider community, focusing on England and Wales, UK. This is important to do to recognise which myths are harmful and are facilitating the under-reporting of male rape. This paper will help raise awareness of male rape myths and not only attempt to tackle them, but also encourage male rape victims to come forward to report and seek the help that they merit. It will also address the gaps in the literature and areas ripe for research, so further empirical research can be conducted on male rape, highlighting ideas for future research and providing guidance in areas most needed in research on male rape. </p>

Unspoken victims: A national study of male rape incidents and police investigations in South Africa

“…[8] Male rape myths also hamper reporting of cases to the police. [18] Being a victim of rape or sexual violation may be considered to be a show of weakness, thus hampering the official reporting of incidents by males, especially if these attitudes and beliefs are held in higher regard with specific groups of men. While society holds the notion of sexual exploitation of children unacceptable, including that of young boys, rape of adult males is met with scepticism regarding the victim's masculinity and sexuality.…”

The Impact of Gendered Stereotypes on Perceptions of Violence: A Commentary

“…Moreover, there are perceptions about men having a much stronger desire for sex, which creates a significant stigma around women's sexual aggression that impacts on public perceptions (Weare, 2017) and assumptions about physically not being able to be forced to have sex with a woman through inaccurate beliefs about the nature of men's arousal (Weare, 2018). Because rape myths (both for men and women) are often rooted in Western gender role expectations, so male rape may be disputed because men are socialized to be strong and powerful, and it provides a challenge to masculinity when this occurs (Javaid, 2015).…”

The Feminizing Effect of Sexual Violence in Third-Party Perceptions of Male and Female Victims

“…The term Bvictim^frequently elicits connotations of stereotypical, passive femininity-especially when the crime entails rape or other forms of sexual violence (Lamb 1999;Mardorossian 2014). Although male-male rape is gradually receiving more academic and societal attention, presentations of male rape are frequently limited to those occurring in a very specific context, such as against gay or prison populations (Cohen 2014;Javaid 2015a). Yet prevalence studies indicate that male sexual assault should not be dismissed as an extraordinary occurrence, or one merely confined to specific population groups.…”