Weiss brings up how definitions may also have a hand in this. How our social definitions have described rape as violence against specifically women. This is ignoring men and other non-female individuals. It has become established that only men rape, so a "real" man would not become the victim. I feel like this stems back to simple stereotyping. That men are supposed to be strong and unbreakable while women are fragile an should be protected. I wish there was an easy way just to tell everyone that it's okay for men to be feminine and for women to be masculine. The issue of victims being ignored because they are seen as feminine helps absolutely no one. There needs to be a better support system for male victims of violence. There are women's shelters everywhere, but there is no such thing as a man's shelter. If even a safe place for male abuse victims existed there might be more men coming forward to seek help.
Friday 2 October 2015
Men as Victims
It is incredibly important to create conversations about sexual violence towards males because as Weiss points out there are not many formal studies on the subject and it's vital to create a larger discussion which hopefully would lead to possible solutions. The clip of Law and Order we watched in class was a perfect example of how male sexual assault is more often than not brushed off and ignored, especially by the victims. The way the victim evaded admitting he was assaulted and would say things like "It doesn't matter," or "I didn't say no," "No one got hurt," is so similar to how a real victim would react. In the show the victim doesn't even seem to realize he was assaulted. This is a direct result of the feminization of the role of the victim. We discussed before how typically it is seem that men rape and women are raped, so it has become a socialized idea that only women can be raped. If a man is raped, he is put into this female role. He was forced out of the "manly" position of dominance and many men would have a hard time admitting that for pride sake. Men in the 21st century are still having a hard time recognizing femininity in themselves and so cannot accept that something that can "only happen to women" could happen to them.
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I think there is so much around needing to rework what masculinity needs to look like for men as well. As you point out, men can't be feminine, or pushed out of their traditional masculine roles without looking weak, which causes even more stigma around their assaults. If they can never be weak, how could one ever admit or seek help for sexual violence. Our society just does not allow for it now, and I think this has so much to do with the rigid forms of masculinity that exist as well.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you, in that we need to create more institutions where men would feel comfortable seeking help, and for our systems to realize that men may need relief as well. Even though it is a smaller percentage of men who need to seek help, I think it would be great if this was talked about more, so that stigma can be reduced, and that the idea that sexual violence can happen to anyone was more readily accepted.