Forced to Penetrate Cases: Lived Experiences of Men

I have often mentioned on this blog that part of the reason we know so little about male victims of sexual violence is because we do not talk to men about their experiences. This is particularly true when it comes to female-perpetrated abuse. The common view is that women cannot rape men, or at least that whatever they can commit is minimal and harmless. This view is bolstered by the feminist claim that sexual violence is an act of oppression specifically committed by men against women.

Those narratives intertwine, creating an unwillingness for society, law enforcement, support agencies, and researchers to acknowledge male victims or female rapists. But what happens when one actually asks men about their experiences?

As seen in the recent CDC studies on intimate partner violence, it appears that one will discover that far more men are victims of sexual violence than initially assumed, and that the majority of the abusers are female. I have written before about the CDC research, specifically how the CDC separated female-perpetrated sexual violence from rape, creating the category “made to penetrate” (i.e., the male is forced to insert his penis into a vagina or anus), and then labeling this as sexual assault.

Many people took issue with this, myself included, not because the CDC acknowledged this particular type of violence, but because their categorization made it appear as if men were rarely raped, when the results actually suggested the opposite. There were further questions regarding the methodology and how the researchers presented the results, however, the CDC study was the first to examine the concept of “made to penetrate” to such a degree.

Even with the concerns, the results showed far more men are raped by women than anyone assumed. What was needed was further independent research on the same topic. How many male victims are forced to penetrate their rapists? What is the sex of the rapist? What impact does this particular form of rape have on the victims? What assistance, if any, do victims seek? How are they treated?

We now have another report asking those questions.

Study finds people choose not to date trans people

Did you know that it is transphobic to choose not to date a transgender person? Indeed it is. According to a recent study, “cisgender” people discriminate against transgender community by refusing to date or have sex with them:

Two Canadian researchers recently asked almost 1000 cisgender folks if they would date a trans person in a new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. This is the first study to ever attempt to quantify the extent of trans discrimination when it comes to romantic and sexual relationships.

958 participants (all but seven cisgender, ranging in age from 18 to 81, with an average age of 26) were asked to indicate which genders they would consider dating. The options included cisgender man, cisgender woman, trans man, trans woman, or genderqueer, and participants could select as many genders as they wanted.

Only 12% of all participants selected “trans woman” and/or “trans man.”

Did anyone need a study to determine that finding? It should be obvious, given the rarity of transgender people, that only a small portion of the population would want to pursue romantic or sexual relationships with them.

What is interesting is that people’s willingness to engage in relationships with transgender people tended to match the non-trans person’s sexual preferences:

Study finds boys experience more sexual violence than girls

A recent study on childhood violence found that boys experience more sexual violence than girls. The Council for the Welfare of Children and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) conducted the study and released the results. The National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children focused on children in the Philippines. It revealed:

[…] that 21.5 percent of the respondents or one in five children experienced any form of sexual violence in any setting, may it be at home, school, workplace, community or during dating.

But of this number, 28.7 percent of the male respondents admitted to have experienced sexual violence, while only 20.1 percent of the female respondents said so.

The researchers did note that the higher prevalence of sexual violence in general could come from their definition of sexual violence. The researchers sexual violence as “taking photos or sex videos of being naked or engaging in sexual activities, unwanted touch, forced attempted sex, and forced consummated sex.” The first two include someone forcing the child to make the pictures or videos as well as the child doing it himself.

While that definition strikes me as broad, it does not alter the findings regarding sexual violence. Those results show that most of the sexual violence children reported involved touching of some sort.

A third of sexually abused boys attempt suicide

Originally posted on April 26, 2015

According to a recent study, one in three boys who experience sexual abuse attempt suicide. Laura Anderson conducted the study to see what impact weight and sexual violence had on children attempting suicide. While she found no correlation between the two, she did discover that abused children are more likely to attempt suicide than their non-abused peers:

The study analyzed data from a Youth and Risk Behavior Survey that sampled more than 31,000 teenagers in 2009 and 2011. The research continued a preliminary study from 2011 that found similar results using a smaller sample of teens.

The poll surveyed students ages 14 to 18 and examined whether the two variables influenced suicide attempts within a year of the survey.

For boys, the study found:

3.5 percent of healthy-weight males with no sexual assault history attempted suicide. That percentage climbed to 33.2 percent for healthy-weight males with sexual assault history, which Anderson attributes to stigma, shame, possible gender role conflict if the attacker was male and the lack of an open support system. Weight alone was not a significant factor in suicide attempts for males. Only 3.9 percent of overweight males with no sexual assault history attempted suicide. For males who were both overweight and had a history of sexual assault, the percentage who attempted suicide was 33 percent.

For girls, the results were:

5.8 percent of healthy-weight females with no sexual assault history attempted suicide. The percentage rose to 27.1 percent for healthy-weight girls with a history of sexual assault. Weight influenced the suicide rate among women: 8.2 percent of overweight girls with no sexual assault history attempt suicide. However, both factors did not increase suicide rate: 26.6 percent of overweight girls with sexual assault histories attempted suicide.

Female researchers outraged when asked to include men

Megan Head and Fiona Ingleby submitted a research paper to the journal PLOS ONE. The paper explored the postdoc positions offered to PhD graduates in the life sciences. It specifically focused on whether sexism affected the positions offered to female graduates. The journal rejected the paper, however, on the grounds that “the qulaity [sic] of the manuscript is por [sic] issues on methodologies and presentation of resulst [sic]”.

Setting the irony of that statement aside, the controversy erupted when the researchers published excerpts from the review online:

The reviewer makes objections to the way that the researchers interpreted the results of a survey of 244 people with a PhD in biology, which the authors use to conclude there is gender bias in academia.

In offering an alternative interpretation of the data, the reviewer says: “It could perhaps be the case that 99% of female scientists make a decision in mid-life that spending more time with their children is more important to them than doing everything imaginable to try to get one of the rare positions at the utter pinnacle of their field.”

The reviewer goes on: “Or perhaps it is the case that only some small portion of men (and only men) have the kind of egomaniac personality disorder that drives them on to try to become the chief of the world at the expense of all else in life.”

Bulletin Board v246

Adolescence: The secret life of boys — I was a cute child, I guess. When I got to school my older cousin took me aside. He said some older boys would come after me—for sex. “That’s how it works,” he said. “It’s dangerous for new boys.” He told me I had to make sure I was never alone. He said, “Don’t go to the toilet alone. Don’t let a senior boy call you out alone.” He told me what places to avoid.

Alabama woman convicted in children sex abuse ring — The conviction Wednesday of an Alabama woman accused of being part of an incestuous sex ring provided graphic evidence about horrendous child molestation, but it didn’t answer a baffling question: What happened to a young victim who is missing and presumed dead? Jurors took two hours to convict Wendy Wood Holland, 35, of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment. She showed no emotion when the verdict was read.

Babysitter Accused Of Raping 10-Year-Old Boy Claims ‘He Forced Himself On Me’ — A babysitter accused of raping a 10-year-old boy is claiming that she was forced into the act. Marybeth Rataic, a 25-year-old Connecticut woman, was said to have had “three or four sexual encounters” with the pre-teen in question, but she shares a different side of the story. According to a report from NBC Connecticut, Rataic claimed that the 10-year-old had a crush on her and “forced himself on her while they were wrestling and tickling each other.”

When women sexually abuse

Originally posted on April 11, 2013

Several years ago I read a book called Female Sexual Abuse of Children. Michele Elliot edited the book. As I recall, the book gave two different views of the issue: one professional, the other from the victims.

The book relied on a handful of testimonials — I believe four women and one man — to describe the ways women sexually abuse children. However, what they shared painted a picture far different from what people expect. These abusive women were not angels. The abuse was not pretty and harmless. These women were not victims of controlling men forcing them to act. These women were just as vicious, violent, and predatory as many male child rapists.

For obvious reasons, Elliott’s book prompted a great deal of backlash. Here is a dedicated sexual abuse researcher and a feminist writing about women committing child rape. Elliott recounts the responses people had to her findings in an interview.