"Son, Men Don't Get Raped" GQ Article

[Nice Squirrel]

Required reading, especially for Mens Rights Advocates.
http://www.gq.com/long-form/male-military-rape

The moment a man enlists in the United States armed forces, his chances of being sexually assaulted increase by a factor of ten. Women, of course, are much more likely to be victims of military sexual trauma (MST), but far fewer of them enlist. In fact, more military men are assaulted than women—nearly 14,000 in 2012 alone. Prior to the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" in 2011, male-on-male-rape victims could actually be discharged for having engaged in homosexual conduct. That's no longer the case—but the numbers show that men are still afraid to report being sexually assaulted.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Does that surprise anybody? Men are probably even more hesitant to report being sexually assaulted, or even physically assaulted by women. It's that whole men as aggressor and women as victim thing again. "Real men don't cry".

 

[Rhea]

God, that's hard to read. So much pain, so much betrayal.

 

[Toni]

Does that surprise anybody? Men are probably even more hesitant to report being sexually assaulted, or even physically assaulted by women. It's that whole men as aggressor and women as victim thing again. "Real men don't cry".

Of course those are issues. But specifically in the military, men are much more likely to be the perpetrators of violence, sexual and otherwise, than are women. This seems to be true in civilian life as well but your point that men who are victims of violence at the hand of women are less likely to be believed or to report is taken. I haven't yet seen anything suggesting that women commit as many acts of violence, sexual or otherwise, as do men.

 

[RavenSky]

God, that's hard to read. So much pain, so much betrayal.

^^^ that

 

[credoconsolans]

Men need to rise above their fear of their fellow men's opinion of them and report a crime when it happens. Nothing will be done until they start to do this because most men don't think male-on-male-rape happens.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I saw a doco a while back detailing what happened to women who reported being raped within the military. Denial from high up, wrecked careers (not the rapists'), intimidation. The change has to come from within the military, holding violence against colleagues actionable and losing the Catholic-church-sweep-it-under-the-carpet mentality.

Each one of those 14,000 men who was the subject of sexual assault in 2012 would have known the likely result of reporting the crime and of course the perpetrators know that they will not be sanctioned.

Am I the only one noticing that the large institutions within our society and the individuals in power are very happy to lie to preserve the status quo and don't have to change (or quit) even when caught out?

 

[bilby]

People who have attained powerful positions are generally highly committed to the organisations for which they work; subordinates, on the other hand, are easily replaced as required - indeed, finding replacements is a routine part of the job. This applies whether you are an executive, a commanding officer, or an archbishop - to reach that elevated position, you need to show real commitment to the company/regiment/church; but showing commitment to the individual subordinates in the system is strongly discouraged. After all, you might have to fire them/send them to die/have them moved to another diocese, so it doesn't do to get too personally attached.

So when a person reports to you that one of your subordinates has committed a criminal act, your first response is not "This is dreadful, the victim must be protected and the perpetrator punished"; it is rather "This is dreadful, the system must be protected and the victim silenced".

I am not sure how this can be fixed, but it seems that closed, strongly hierarchical systems, where there is one path to the top - a clear chain of command that is difficult or impossible to bypass - are the worst offenders.