Rape of males

A significant proportion of victims of rape or sexual violence incidents in general are male. A study conducted in England indicated that 3% of males surveyed reported experiencing non-consensual sex as adults, 5% experienced non-consensual sex as children (under 16 years of age), and 8% experienced consensual sex as children (though illegal by UK law). In the United States, sexual violence against men, like women, is underreported.

Generally, rape is still thought to be a crime against women specifically (and historically has been defined this way), although many cases of male-victim rape have become subject of public discussion recently. Dr. Maeve Eogan and Deirdra Richardson, respectively the medical director of the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) of Rotunda Hospital and a sexual assault forensic examiner, said that rape of males is still taboo to be spoken about and has a negative connotation among both heterosexual and homosexual men.

Community and service providers often react to the sexual orientation of male victims and the gender of their perpetrators. Mostly, male victims try to hide, and deny their victimization, similar to female victims, unless they have serious physical injuries. Eventually, the male victims may be very vague in explaining their injuries when they're seeking medical or mental health services. It is difficult for a male victim, heterosexual or homosexual, to report the sexual assault that was experienced by him, especially in a society with a strong masculine custom. An Indian counselor named Ajay Sathyan said, "They don't have a platform to speak out. Even families don't want to acknowledge it publicly." They are afraid that people will doubt their sexual orientation and label them as homosexuals. A perception of being homosexual is also alleged to be the motive in many cases.

The research about male-victim rape only appeared less than 30 years ago, mostly focused on male children. The studies of sexual assault in correctional facilities focusing specifically on the consequences of this kind of rape was available in the early 1980s, but nothing was available during the previous years. Most of the literature regarding rape and sexual assault still focuses on female victims.

Only recently have some other forms of sexual violence against men been considered. In the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) measured a category of sexual violence called “being made to penetrate” which captures instances where victims who were forced to penetrate someone, either by physical force or coercion, or when the victim was intoxicated or otherwise unable to consent. The CDC found that 1.267 million men reported being "made to penetrate" another person in the preceding 12 months, similar to the 1.270 million women who reported being raped in the same time period. The definitions of rape and "made to penetrate" in the CDC study were worded with extremely similar language.

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