CNN berichtet über von Frauen vergewaltigte Männer

Außerhalb Deutschlands dringen die bislang nur von der Männerrechtsbewegung angesprochenen Tabuthemen in den Mainstream der Berichterstattung vor. Ein Auszug aus einem aktuellen CNN-Beitrag:

Experts say any sexual assault victim requires extensive emotional and psychological healing after the incident, but male survivors have a harder time putting words to what happened.

(...) "Often, male survivors may be less likely to identify what happened to them as abuse or assault because of the general notion that men always want sex," says Jennifer Marsh, the vice president for Victim Services at RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization.

"Males have the added burden of facing a society that doesn't believe rape can happen to them ... at all," says psychotherapist Elizabeth Donovan.

She says gender roles dictate that males are expected to be strong and self-reliant -- men are viewed as those who seek sexual conquests instead of those who "fend them off."

(...) "It's a tough call; people think men can't be raped and they don't understand that in the confusion no still means no," says Curtis St. John, a representative for MaleSurvivor, a national support group for male sexual victimization.

Further muddying the water is the fact that some men can perform sexually, even including orgasm, and still be raped.

In an article in the Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine, Roy J. Levin and Willy Van Berlo found that even in men who have not consented to sex, slight stimulation of the genitals or an increase in stress can create erections "even though no specific sexual stimulation is present."

" 'Were you aroused?' " is a question posed to male victims, St. John says. "You don't hear it with female rape victims. It's an interesting question that men get asked."

Inzwischen findet man etwa in einem regionalen britischen Blatt wie der Nottingham Post einen Artikel darüber, dass die Zahl der Männer, die sich als Opfer sexueller Gewalt outen, sprunghaft ansteigt und inzwischen ein Drittel aller Fälle insgesamt umfasst – obwohl es Männern erheblich schwerer fällt, über solche Opfererfahrungen zu sprechen, als Frauen. Auch in Irland wurde man in der vergangenen Woche allmählich wach:

2009 research shows that only one per cent of men report rape or sexual assault to the Gardai, emphasising the culture of silence that exists around the subject for Irish males (“Different Systems – Similar Outcomes” EU DAPHNE II Research 2009).

The same research showed that nearly half of the male victims of rape or sexual assault never told anyone, but the volume of calls to the National 24-Hour Helpline from men suggests that it may be finally changing and men are becoming more willing to speak up.

The reasons for men’s reluctance to speak up and report their experiences are similar to women’s (shame, fear of not being believed, lack of faith in the criminal justice system and fear of ridicule) but women’s rates of reporting to the Gardai, while still too low, are way ahead of men’s.

Trotz diesen allmählich wachsenden Bewusstseins für männliche Opfer blieben diese ebenso ausgegrenzt wie die Helfer, die sich für sie einsetzen. So werden den wenigen Zentren, die sich um männliche Vergewaltigungsopfer kümmern, finanzielle Zuschüsse dafür versagt – diese seien lediglich für Mädchen und Frauen vorgesehen. Das Blog Toy Soldiers berichtet und bewertet diese Vorgänge zu Recht als "offene sexuelle Diskriminierung".