Rape in the UK Military

Originally posted on December 4th, 2015

I wrote before about the problem of sexual violence in the United States military. It now appears the United Kingdom has a similar problem:

At least three rapes and 22 sexual assaults have been carried out against men in the UK military forces over the last two years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed under a Freedom of Information request.

Last February, a 20-year-old man was subject to “assault by penetration” by a group of seven men, The Times reported.

In May, another soldier, 28, was attacked by his seven fellow servicemen, while three other young men in the army – one of them 18 years old – were the victims of penetrative sexual assaults over the last year.

All in all, there have been 25 assaults between October 2012 and October 2014, the report revealed.

The numbers were disclosed by the MoD under Freedom of Information requests. They refer only to information gathered by military police, meaning that the real numbers could be much higher.

A former army officer offers his views:

UK government creates new fund for male rape victims

The United Kingdom has a sordid history of failing to acknowledge and address sexual violence against men and boys. Many cases of sexual violence against males are not prosecuted under the rape statutes, including offenses against boys. Women cannot face rape charges under UK law. The National Rape Crisis Network excludes organizations at assist male victims. All those things works against efforts to help abused men and boys.

However, the UK government recently decided to grant money to the Male Rape Support Fund:

Male victims of rape are to be supported with a new £600,000 government fund.

Twelve charities to be given money from the new Male Rape Support Fund were announced earlier by Victims Minister Mike Penning.

He said nationally about 75,000 men were victims of sexual assault in 2012-13, but few went to the police for help because the crime was “taboo”.

The fund will support the chosen charities over two years.

Its aim, announced by the Ministry of Justice in February, is to provide online information and face-to-face support at centres across England and Wales.