MALE RAPE: A Myth OR Reality? By Isaac Opatewa

Generally, rape is still thought to be a crime against women specifically (and historically, it has been defined this way), although many cases of male- rape victims 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 a taboo to be spoken about and has a negative connotation among both heterosexual and homosexual men.

Rape myth is a way in which sexual violence has been sustained and justified through history and modern times. Although the majority of adult sexual crimes are committed by men against women, sexual assault can be perpetrated by or against members of both sex.
Whereas, men are more likely to be the aggressors and women the victims, researches are not capturing the full range of sexual violence by viewing men as the only perpetrators and women the victims.

According to Coxell, in “ lifetime prevalence, characters and associated problems of non-consexual sex in man”, approximately 3 to 8% of American and British men report haven experienced an adulthood of sexual assault in their lifetime, and between 6 to 15% of assaults involve a female perpetration.

Rape is also not just a heterosexual issue with 13.2% of bisexual men and 11.6% of gay men reporting a history of rape in adulthood in one study (Balsam Roltblum 2005). Although studying male sexual assault is an important issue, it has been largely “overlooked. Dismissed, or ignored”, and is an understudied issue.

Compton (1997) said that “ men who have had sexually conceive experience as an adult are more likely to have a range of psychological problem such as lower self esteem. Ratner et al (2003) also added that they have increased depression symptoms.
Tales and Reports of Male rape date back several centuries appearing in Roman Folwne (Mezey & king, 2000-)(Burt M.R “cultural myths and supports for rape” journal of personality and social psychology, 38,(1980):217, ancient Greek myth (such as the people of Sodom woh attempted to rape two male angels and the assault of Lot by his daughters).

A reporter, Yern of the Federal Bureau Investigation, suggested that in these more modern times, the media, especially Tv, has likely been a primary contributor to peoples knowledge of male rape, as the media is considered to be the greatest source of crime knowledge.

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.

Although research and numerous examples have demonstrated that male rape does occur, the law does not always acknowledge this experience, instead it perpetuates myths such as “man cannot be raped”, male victim are not affected by rape”, and male rape is not important.

Male rape was historically classified as a crime under “sodomy” laws along with consensual homosexual activity, and although sodomy laws have existed for centuries, the issue of male rape has only recently been discussed within the context of sexual violence.

In Nigeria as well as in many other countries of the world, law will always remain an instrument subject to change. By its nature, rape is not gender sensitive, because the position of the law in Nigeria is that is that only a male person can commit rape; and the victim is usually a female person. In Nigeria, we have instances where women were alleged to have raped men. By way of example, in 2012, in Benue State, six women (all spouse of one man) raped the man to death.

In conclusion, (Herman SN 2004) on “effect of male rape on psychological functioning” stated that traditional rape laws were gender specific, providing that only women could be victims of rape and only men could be rapist. But he suggested that the offence of rape in Nigeria should be desexualized.

It is therefore a reality globally and in Nigeria that a woman can rape a man and vice versa.

Isaac Opatewa esq
07068620329
isaacopatewa@gmail.com