Reading the Weiss piece this week really made me think about
the sexual assault of men and how constructions of gender play so heavily into
that. While I found the Weiss piece a really interesting read, at times it did
feel slightly dated to me since I think a lot of things have shifted even over
the last 5 years (for example, the point about the FBI definition of rape has
changed since 2010: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-16452014).
It also felt very stats heavy to me, and while stats are great, they also sometimes
make me feel like I am not getting all the nuance of an issue. I have also read
a short article by Aliraza Javaid called “The Dark Side of Men: The Nature of
Masculinity and Its Uneasy Relationship With Male Rape” which was published
very recently and tried to base its study more off the experience of male
victims, than that of their offenders and statistics. If you're interested please feel free to read - it's available as a PDF in the library database.
I want to use the Weiss piece, as well as the Javaid one, to
focus on how it can be difficult for men to claim victimhood due, in a large
part I would argue, to the norms and ideals of gender that exist. It seems
clear through both pieces that the very concept of victim is in direct conflict
with the idea of masculinity (e.x., a “real man”) that exists.
I think a reason that
men may be reluctant to admit that incidents have happened, or that they are
victims because in doing so, it acknowledges that a crime did happen, and the
incident is something real both to that man and to a larger social grouping. It
is absolutely difficult to accept that something happened to you when messages
that it is not supposed to happen to you, it can’t happen to you are encoded in
so much of society.
The ways in which gender are constructed make it so that men
are expected to be stronger, more active, wanting sex, etc. – but, as I think
we all know, gender is much more complicated and nuanced than that. There also
seems to be a labeling of victimhood as something opposite that construction
of masculinity, with some pushback to that labeling and some reclaiming of
victimhood as a centre for power. But since there is this idea that being a
victim is a form of “weakness,” it becomes hard for people, especially men who
are taught to always be strong, to accept that label and claim it as their own.
I wonder then if there is a way for people
of all genders to reclaim the concept of victimhood? Do we see any ways in
which victimization is used as a source for power, self-acceptance or change?
I like how you critiqued the stats-heaviness of this article, Emily. Even as society progresses discourse surrounding sexual assault, I feel so many conversations are dominated by numbers, as if they are more legitimate than the survivors' stories themselves. I bet this is both a product of and contributor to why so many survivors aren't believed when they disclose their sexual assault. What's more, I've noticed that there's so much more attention paid towards "proving" whether a sexual assault happened or not, rather than shifting the conversation towards how survivors can empower themselves after being victimized.
ReplyDeleteAs you and Weiss both alluded, men face a distinct kind of secondary victimization when disclosing their sexual assault. Weiss described this quite clearly when she stated that "admitting to sexual victimization clearly contradicts social definitions of what it means to be a man" (294).
I can imagine that being given appropriate space to heal and gain support following a sexual assault may afford men the opportunity to reconsider what it means to "be a man." But obviously (obviously!) no man should have to go through a traumatic experience to feel safe to question and challenge the construction of masculinity. I'm no expert, but I hope that by allowing men space to consider these things after and "before" they experience sexual assault, we can start to erode the damaging nature of masculinity.
I completely agree with you Emily that the social construction of gender has a huge impact on the issues pertaining to the sexual assault of men. To even suggest or claim some form of victimhood is seen as weak , pathetic and unmanly. It goes against everything men have been socially conditioned to think which is that they should have the strenght to overpower what or whom tries to hurt them or challenge their masculinity. To be raped and sexually assaulted is viewed as a passive consequence and not as a forceful act of violation against one's physical space.
ReplyDeleteHow can a man be raped when he is viewed as a person who is entitled to have his own agency and can act upon it ? As a society , we do not accept passivity in men especially in relation to sex ; thereofore , sexual assault of men is harder to rationalize.
Ultimately , a universal shift of consciousness has to be reconstructed about gender social norms and about how the sexual assault of men and their victimhood is a reality that needs to addressed . A space where they can be heard and accepted and also regain some form of empowrement from their victimization that has nothing to do with proving their 'masculinity".
Thanks for shedding some light on male sexual victimisation. It is important to do so because, as you mention, gender impacts on the ways in which society responds to, and deals with men as victims of rape.
ReplyDeleteKind regards,
Aliraza Javaid