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Voluntary Agencies’ Responses to, and Attitudes toward Male Rape: Issues and Concerns

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Abstract

This paper critically explores voluntary agencies’ responses to, and attitudes toward male survivors of rape in England and Wales. There has been a gap in this area, so this paper attempts to fill this gap in knowledge by examining how these survivors experience service delivery and by examining what contributions feminist theory and research has made to understand ‘male rape’. This paper argues that feminist theory and research neglects male rape and this negligence can also be seen in voluntary organisations for survivors. Therefore, through the neglect of male rape, the gender roles of men and women are reinforced instead of being tackled. This paper contributes to knowledge by opening up a discussion on male rape in the academic setting, in feminist theory and research debates, and in research surrounding voluntary agencies. This, in turn, helps to raise awareness of such a ‘hidden’ phenomenon in policy and practice and helps to form a better understanding not only of male rape, but also of the responses and attitudes toward it by voluntary provisions and the wider society.

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Notes

  1. If rape crisis centres are given more power without any responsibility on them to attain equality in service provision, it can have serious consequences for male rape survivors.

  2. Secondary victimisation is the re-traumatisation of the rape survivor, abuse, or sexual assault. It is an indirect result of assault, which happens via the responses of institutions and individuals to the survivor when dealing with the survivor after the attack.

  3. The Stern Review (2010) is an independent review, directed by Baroness Stern, that investigates the treatment of rape complaints by local authorities, particularly looking at how such authorities deal with, and respond to survivors of rape.

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Acknowledgments

My humble thanks go to the anonymous reviewers for their important, valuable and inspiring feedback of the draft manuscript. Thank you.

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  1. Leeds Beckett University, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK

    Aliraza Javaid

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  1. Aliraza Javaid
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Correspondence to Aliraza Javaid.

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Javaid, A. Voluntary Agencies’ Responses to, and Attitudes toward Male Rape: Issues and Concerns. Sexuality & Culture 20, 731–748 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-016-9348-z

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