Introduction — Feminism, Governmentality and ‘Male’ Rape

The Dark Side of Men

“…Rumney (2009) argues that it is important to critically explore different sexualities and challenge hegemonic masculinity and normative (hetero)sexuality to recognize homosexual male rape victims and subsequently deal with them efficiently and adequately. However, this may be difficult to do when Cohen (2014) implies that male rape and homosexuality have collectively become segregated: Given that the scientific “discovery” of gender enabled the constitution of populations along patriarchal lines, it is conceivable that male rape became subsumed within the history of homosexuality to preserve that hierarchical ideology of heterosexual masculine supremacy. (p. 27)…”

“…This argument can be applied to the context of male rape because, for men, these social and gendered norms, arguably, disallow men from becoming victims of rape, too. This view is often held to be more pronounced in U.K. societies (Abdullah-Khan, 2008; Cohen, 2014; Javaid, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2015a). Card further suggests that these gendered and social norms that she discusses center on male power within the powerful social structures of masculinity and patriarchy.…”

“…In particular, White, heterosexual men are the “gold standard” or, in other words, norm against whom the (fearful, irrational, victim prone female) victim is compared, according to positivist legacies and “domain assumptions.” Consequently, men have been (and continue to be) largely excluded from victim status and have been (again, and continue to be) rendered “invisible” as victims (Javaid, 2014c), particularly by the police (Javaid, 2015a) in that they further undermine men’s masculine identity if men have suffered victimization because the police expect masculine invulnerability from men (Dunn, 2012). The police, courts, and voluntary services do not take the issue of male rape seriously, as they exercise secondary victimization to male victims of rape, eventually ending in their case being dropped out of the criminal justice system, adding to their emotional effects of rape (Abdullah-Khan, 2008; Cohen, 2014; Rumney, 2009). Many victims and witnesses find that contact with the criminal justice system, such as the police, is a source of re-victimization (Dunn, 2007).…”

“As I Was Walking Down the Street, Four Strange Guys Came and Took Me Under the Bridge, Where They All Raped Me”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Types of Rape Experienced by Men in South Africa

“…The passing of this Act by the national parliament gave recognition to the rape victimization of men in South Africa which, before the passing of this law, was classified under indecent assault (Artz & Smythe, 2008). Although the law in the country, and in other parts of the world, recognizes rape against men, much attention from academics, politicians, and activists has been paid to women and children as the only victims of rape (Cohen, 2014; Sigsworth, 2009). This has resulted in the development of care and management guidelines and sexual violence prevention interventions specific to these groups (García-Moreno et al, 2015; World Health Organization, 2013).…”

“…In South Africa and in other parts of the world, incidents of rape in general are underreported (Jewkes, Nduna, Shai, & Dunkle, 2012; Jewkes, Sen, & Garcia-Moreno, 2002; Martin, 2002; Palermo, Bleck, & Peterman, 2013), but the incidence of rape where men are the primary victims remains even more underreported in the statistics and in research (McDonald & Tijerino, 2013). This can be attributed to many factors that may include the misconceptions that women are the only victims of rape, that men are always perpetrators, along with cultural and social stereotypes that are associated with rape against men such as the belief that men always want sex, real men don’t get raped, and only homosexual men get raped (Cohen, 2014; Gear, 2007; Javaid, 2015; McMahon, 2010; Sleath & Bull, 2010; Smith, 2011). These misconceptions and stereotypes have been identified as driving force behind the continuation of sexual violence (Ryan, 2011; Weiss, 2009).…”