Male Rape is a Feminist Issue

Cohen, Claire

doi:10.1057/9781137035103

Cited by 79 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…This mistaken view that the offenders are always male, I argue, is incorrect. Both Graham (2006) and Cohen (2014) argue, which I agree with, that it is understandable in a predominantly female sexually victimised society that feminist literature would focus purely on female victims because feminists do not see rape as gender-neutral, yet “focusing exclusively on female victimization is problematic” (Graham 2006: 187). The current study has shown that masculinity theorists are more accepting of men as victims of rape, than feminist theorists are.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Lees (1997) argues, however, that all men have the potential to be raped and all types of men can be raped, regardless of their sexual orientation. Because male rape myths dominate state and voluntary agencies, male rape victims are left untreated, isolated, and sidelined (Donnelly and Kenyon 1996; Hodge and Canter 1998; Cohen 2014). Therefore, it is important to critically discuss these agencies because, if the staff members in the agencies hold negative views about male rape, as they may do about female rape, it can be problematic in that they may inadequately respond to and handle male rape victims.…”

Section: Setting the Scene: Understanding And Explaining Male Sexual Victimisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2.7 Cohen (2014) argues that male rape victims report at much lower rates in contrast to female rape victims. Thus, it is important to examine state and voluntary agencies’ thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, ideas, and views about male rape; if they believe men can be rape victims; how male rape victims compare to female rape victims; and how they handle male rape victims.…”

Section: Setting the Scene: Understanding And Explaining Male Sexual Victimisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unconsciously classifying male rape victims as ‘undeserving’ of victim status and as not ‘real’ victims, based on how rape is socially constructed, is problematic. This is because these victims are, as a result, highly likely to be disbelieved (Lees 1997), seen as not credible complainants (Walker et al 2005), and the male rape myths that “male rape does not exist” or “men cannot be raped” may very well be perpetuated across societies, state agencies (Chapleau et al 2008; Abdullah-Khan 2008) and voluntary service provisions (Cohen 2014; Javaid 2016a, b). Richardson and May (1999: 309) say that “some individuals are seen as…less deserving of victim status than are others on the basis of their ‘behavioural responsibility’ for risk avoidance…gender of the victim is significant in terms of expectations of ‘behavioural responsibility’ for avoiding social contexts…associated with…violence.”…”

Section: Masculinities Gender Expectations and Male Rapementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Unknown Victims: Hegemonic Masculinity, Masculinities, and Male Sexual Victimisation

Javaid

2017

Sociological Research Online

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This paper adopts the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity to elucidate and make sense of male sexual victimisation. Critically evaluating the empirical data, which comprises of police officers and practitioners in voluntary agencies (N = 70), that this paper offers, I argue that gender expectations, hegemonic masculinities and sexism prevail in societies, state and voluntary agencies. It has been found that, because male rape victims embody subordinate masculinities, they are marginalised as 'abnormal' and 'deviant'. They are, in other words, classified as the 'other' for challenging and contradicting hegemonic masculinity, disrupting the gender order of men. Consequently, male sexual victimisation is not taken seriously in services, policy and practice, whilst the victims of this crime type are relegated in the gender hierarchy. As a result, male rape victims suffer a 'masculinity crisis' in the context of male rape. This paper attempts to open up a dialogue regarding male rape and male sexual assault, to challenge hegemonic masculinity, and to bring male rape 'out of the closet'.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Setting the Scene: Understanding And Explaining Male Sexual Victimisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Setting the Scene: Understanding And Explaining Male Sexual Victimisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Masculinities Gender Expectations and Male Rapementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Unknown Victims: Hegemonic Masculinity, Masculinities, and Male Sexual Victimisation

Javaid

2017

Sociological Research Online

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“It doesn't include us”: Heterosexual bias and gay men's struggle to see themselves in affirmative consent policies

Richardson

2021

Sexuality Gender & Policy

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Rape and sexual assault are considered forms of gender violence, or violence against women, and affirmative consent policies were created as a primary prevention strategy to combat this kind of sexual violence on college and university campuses. Such policies are often promoted as being inclusive and applicable crossculturally because of the gender-neutral language within affirmative consent policies; however, the highly gendered nature of sexual assault discourse has become hegemonic and thereby unintentionally reinforces a heterosexually gendered false dichotomy about sexual violence. This qualitative study utilizes in-depth interviews with 10 gay men to explore how they perceive affirmative consent policies. The results found that gay men perceived an implicit heterosexual bias within affirmative consent policies that reinforced heterosexist conceptions of sex, gender, sexual scripts, and sexual assault. Ultimately, this made it challenging for participants to see themselves in affirmative consent policies. Moreover, it burdens gay men whose experiences with sex and consent, as well as sexual assault, do not fit within the heterosexist paradigm of current sexual assault and affirmative consent discourses/policies.

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A Televised Social Problem Construction? Pushing Back Against the Invisibility of the Male Rape Victim in American Crime

Akrivos

2019

Crime, Deviance and Popular Culture

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From reality to representation and back: the rise of 'socially aware' television From the news coverage of physical-world events like O.J. Simpson's or Oscar Pistorius' trials and their TV dramatisation to concerns over jurors relying heavily on scientific evidence due to an alleged 'CSI effect' (Mopas, 2007), the boundaries between social reality and its televised counterpart become increasingly fluid. Manning (1998) describes a televised world of 'media loops' whereby images are constantly recycled and reproduced in new contexts. Similarly, Ferrell (1999, p. 397) refers to a process through which images nowadays 'bounce endlessly one off the other' creating an 'infinite hall of [mediated] mirrors'. This process goes beyond Baudrillard's (2001) idea of an artificial hyper-reality where people escape from the 'desert of the real'. What Manning (1998) and Ferrell (1999) ultimately suggest is that contemporary reality (including the reality of crime, violence and criminal justice) is inextricably intertwined with its representation and it is therefore imperative that criminological research takes this relationship into consideration. As far as TV content is concerned, academic scholarship has mainly focused on the study of news discourse, whilst TV fiction has been regarded primarily as a site of pleasure and entertainment (Henderson, 2007). The escapist function served by television (Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) and the disproportionate emphasis often placed in fictional narratives on individual pathologies (instead of deeper social forces) for entertainment purposes (Best, 2008) should not be overlooked, but neither should the potential of such narratives to inform and even provide a kind of educating entertainment (the so-called 'edutainment') (Klein, 2011).

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Male Rape is a Feminist Issue

Cited by 79 publications

References 0 publications

The Unknown Victims: Hegemonic Masculinity, Masculinities, and Male Sexual Victimisation

The Unknown Victims: Hegemonic Masculinity, Masculinities, and Male Sexual Victimisation

“It doesn't include us”: Heterosexual bias and gay men's struggle to see themselves in affirmative consent policies

A Televised Social Problem Construction? Pushing Back Against the Invisibility of the Male Rape Victim in American Crime

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