Male rape survivors suffer in silence

When it comes to male rape, gender norms collide with trauma: many survivors feel guilt or shame, torturing themselves with questions such as why they didn’t somehow fight off their attackers, or wondering if there was some hidden vulnerability that had caused them to be targeted. Myths become formidable obstacles to survivors confronting their traumas that “real men” don’t get raped, that survivors of rape or abuse must be gay, that rape is about sex rather than power and control, or that the abused are likely themselves to become perpetrators.

Male survivors are suffering, largely in silence, but it’s not because they don’t want to talk. How we build a society that frees them to do so - that is the challenge we must all answer.

Read full article published by The Guardian

Learn more about the national helpline - a victims support organisation focused on male victims - and KIBS München - a German support organisation.