The media has positive effects on male sexual assault victims because it provides a platform for them to share their story.
'sBefore the media, male sexual assault victims had virtually no way to share their stories, especially anonymously. Male sexual assault is an extremely stigmatised topic due to the stereotypes associated with sexual assault. However, with the media, male victims now have a platform to share their stories, which could lead to empowerment. For example, take the story of Sam Thompson. As you can see on the right, Sam is an ordinary 20-something-year-old who lives in Manchester. However, what makes him different is that he is a victim of male rape. Here is Sam's story.
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Sam Thompson is a man who went out with his friends for some drinks in Manchester a few years ago. After a few hours, his friends had left him alone at the bar. A few guys asked him if he wanted to drink with them, and he said yes because he “thought 'why not?'. [He]’d done it hundreds of times back home in Newark.” (BBC3) The men brought him to a hotel and persuaded him to stay for a couple of drinks. However, what he didn’t realise was that the drinks were probably spiked. He recalls that everything went hazy. He was aware that the men were raping him, but he found that he couldn’t fight back. He says that “the whole thing is a blur. All I remember is just trying to block out that it was even happening. When you’re being attacked, your body makes the decision between fight, flight or freeze. I froze.”
"All I remember is just trying to block out that it was even happening. When you’re being attacked, your body makes the decision between fight, flight or freeze. I froze."
Sam Thompson
After the rape, he found it hard to continue living life. He even said that at that time, “like many men, I’d thought I didn’t need anyone else’s help. I saw getting therapy as a sign of weakness.” Miraculously, he sought help with the guidance of his girlfriend and his mother. He started counselling and reached out to Survivors UK, a charity that helped male victims. Unlike many others, Sam turned this experience into something more positive and instead of bottling it up, he used the power of the media to share his experience. He hopes that sharing his experience through the media will help remove the stigma of male rape at least a little bit more. As more and more people and victims read his story, they could feel more empowered and inspired to share their own story and seek help if they need to.
Another story is the one of Jean Paul*'s. Jean Paul is a man from Congo. He was a wealthy man who studied at a university. All of a sudden, his father was shot dead and he was accused of being a spy and kidnapped. This was when he experienced wartime sexual violence. He described the event in a disturbing and horrifying way, saying that "each of the male prisoners was raped 11 times that night and every night that followed.” After 9 days of torture, he managed to hide from his captors and escape. He got hospital treatment, but says that he "still bleeds when he walks".
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"76%
of male political prisoners
described at least
one incidence of sexual torture."
The Guardian
Jean Paul's story shows the horrifying truth of male wartime sexual violence in Africa. Jean said that he finds it hard to get help due to the stereotypes in Africa. An officer named Salome Atim says that "in Africa, no man is allowed to be vulnerable. This makes it very hard for men like Jean to find help, as they find that they lose support from those around them when people find out they were a victim of rape. However, Jean turned to people at Makerere University's Refugee Law Project, a project designed to help people in Africa with traumas. He shared his story to a journalist who shared his story in an article for The Guardian. Wartime sexual violence has actually been an issue in many parts of the world since decades ago. An example comes from El Salvador. When prisoners were surveyed in the 1980s, “76% of male political prisoners...described at least one incidence of sexual torture.” (The Guardian). However, since the stories of these men are not heard, the issue is not spread to many parts of the world. The media has an extremely high amount of power to share a story and make an issue more widespread. Unknowingly, by sharing his story through the media, Jean Paul is raising more and more awareness for the case of male wartime sexual violence in Africa.
*Jean Paul is a name created by The Guardian to protect the real person's identity.
*Jean Paul is a name created by The Guardian to protect the real person's identity.