The stigma of male sexual abuse

Male sexual abuse is any non-consensual or unwanted sexual act performed against a male adult or child at any time in his life. 

Whilst most sexual assaults involve female victims as opposed to male victims, the stigma for males reporting sexual abuse has only become less prevalent in recent years.

It was not until 1994 that the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act finally expanded the definition of rape to include both male and female victims.

The Office for National Statistics in 2023 reported that more than 1 in 4 women and 1 in 18 men have been subjected to some form of sexual violence since the age of 16.

Research published by Statista Research Department in July 2024 demonstrated rape offences in England and Wales had dramatically increased from 16,038 reported offences in 2012/13, to 67,928 in 2023/24, with most reported offences relating to female victims.

Whilst the increase in figures may be due to many high-profile abusers finally being reported, better Police reporting practises and an increased willingness of survivors to come forward, male survivors of sexual abuse often report that masculine social expectations associated with strength, resilience and dominance, commonly result in feelings of shame and embarrassment when they suffer an unwanted sexual assault, preventing them from reporting such abuse.

With a common belief that they will not be taken seriously by the Police or that the assault may be perceived as impacting on their sexuality, many sexual assaults on males continue to go unreported.

The 2012 Foster, Boyd, and O’Leary Report considered the impact of sexual abuse on males, and found that male survivors are: 

• 10 times more likely to report suicidal ideation;
• 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD;
• Less likely than girls to disclose at the time of the sexual abuse, and men and boys are less likely to disclose at all compared with females;
• More likely to cope with the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse with drug and alcohol misuse; and
• On average, disclosing their abuse 22 years after the assault, which is around 10 years later than females, with only 5% reporting the assaults to the Police.

Whilst Rape Crisis England & Wales acknowledge that their focus in on the abuse of women and girls, they fully recognise that men and boys also suffer sexual abuse, and they now work with organisations focused on men and boys to lobby the Government for increased and longer-term funding for specialist services.

https://rapecrisis.org.uk/ 

There is also now the National Male Survivor Helpline and Online Service (NMSHOS) which is managed by Safeline, which provides a dedicated service for men and boys in England and Wales that have been affected by violence and abuse.

https://safeline.org.uk/services/national-male-helpline/ 

Jordans Solicitors are here to support all survivors of any form of physical and/or sexual abuse.