Sexual Abuse Of Males: An Underestimated Issue

Introduction

Abuse and the reporting of abuse has become more prevalent in the recent years. Physical abuse, mental abuse or verbal abuse. Abuse is an extremely traumatic experience for the victim and has a long lasting impact on the individual. When anyone mentions ‘abuse’ people automatically think about girls being the victims of abuse. Yes, girls going through abuse and especially physical abuse is more rampant. I do not intend to trivialise that and I do not mean that we should stop talking about it. We should talk about it and do something about it as much as we possibly can. However, we also need to acknowledge and bring to light that boys get abused too. 1 out of 1000 men are victims of sexual abuse. It is common for boys to be sexually abused but it is not recognised, reported or treated. Abuse is traumatic for any victim experiencing it and it causes a lot of stress in them. We as a society create more stress in male victims because they cannot feel safe to talk about it. We often hear phrases such as ‘Man up’, ‘Men do not cry’, ‘This cannot happen to a man’ and the like. We hardly ever talk about men being abused. It is a novel concept to some people. This does not allow men who have gone through abuse to even be able to come out and talk about it or seek treatment. It must be stressful for a person to have gone through abuse and not even being able to talk about it. This consequently has an adverse effect on their health.

Body

Research regarding women victimised for sexual abuse has received a lot of attention. Surprisingly, investigation into male victims of sexual abuse started as late as the 20th century. The prevalence rates for women is higher (6. 8% to 53. 5%) but for men it is not negligible either (2. 5% to 36. 9%). Men face a lot more issues in understanding abuse, confronting it and reporting it. It is not reported as much as female victims because it is concealed to a much greater extent. The patriarchal society that we live in has inculcated in us all that men are physical and sexual aggressors. Hence, boys grow up thinking such a thing could never happen to them and do not know what to do when it does happen. They are also less likely to report abuse because of the social stigma associated with homosexuality. Since there is a lack of reporting, there is also a lack of information about its effects. Apart from the lack of research, many professionals in areas of mental health, law enforcement, medicine, child protection agencies or school systems are reluctant to deal with male victims of sexual abuse. They outright deny the existence of male sexual abuse and the negative effects of it. Based on the studies of Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MSAC), the age of onset of sexual abuse is 8 or 9 years of age for both males and females. This might be due to the perception of the perpetrator that boys and girls have similar physical appearances at that developmental age.

Another problematic factor is, if the perpetrator is female it is not considered abuse in most cases. Females are viewed as nurturers of society and are not usually seen as perpetrators. Men also comply with the idea that men pursue and enjoy early sexual experiences so it seems to have a positive impact on their adulthood sexuality. Many victims reported their histories of abuse only during the study. They also do not remember every detail of the abuse which acts as a coping defence mechanism. Sexual abuse terminates sooner for males compared to females because they are able to ward off the sexual abuse. Men have more externalizing strategies such as aggressive behaviour, antisocial behaviour and lack of control over their behaviour. Studies show that sexually abused boys show significantly more suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviour, emotional and behavioural problems in contrast to their non-abused counterparts. Boys experience more feelings of loneliness and suicidal thoughts and behaviour 13 times more than non-abused boys. The consequences of abuse also include more use of alcohol, substance abuse, aggressive/criminal behaviour. Experiences of sexual abuse later manifests into various psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. Boys, like girls, respond to abuse with sexualisation. They also indicate an elevated risk of self-destructive behaviour.

Men experiencing sexual abuse face confusion and anxiety about their sexual identity and they consequently engage in inappropriate attempts to reassert their masculinity and victimize others. They also show lower sexual self-esteem and/or greater sexual dysfunction. There is an increased tendency towards compulsive sexuality. Men self-report less psychological harm but they face difficulties in maintaining relationships. There are very few studies about male victims of sexual abuse and the ones that are present include very small or specific clinical samples not including control groups or focusing on only a single measure such as anxiety or suicidal behaviour. Very little is known about the differences between the problems of male and female victims of sexual abuse. However, many consequences of abuse are more disastrous for males than females such as behaviour problems and suicidality. Non-white males are more likely to get abused. Among non-whites, most victims lived with one or no parents. It is more common in boys from low socio-economic backgrounds and disabled boys. 7% of sexually abused males had delayed recall of their abusive experience. Perpetrators include 53 to 94% males with half female perpetrators being adolescent aged baby sitters. 98% of the male perpetrators identified themselves as heterosexual. 36% to 68% males who were sexually abused were also physically abused. Young men with histories of contact sexual abuse scored in the severely distressed range using a valid and reliable measure of well-being. The rate of attempted suicide was 1. 5 to 14 times more compared to non-abused males. Homeless men, men having sex with men, attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic and sexually offending juvelines reported histories of sexual abuse. Boys are expected to be strong and not be in need of protection.

Sebold (1987) suggests homophobic behaviour, exhibitionism, and sexual offending in preadolescent and adolescent boys should be seen as indications of sexual abuse. In contrast to the publications about mother-son abuse, very little is published about father-son abuse even though fathers are cited as amongst the most frequent abusers including sons. It becomes crucial to consider the effects of abuse from childhood (initial effects) and adult (long term effects) perspectives. How the family responds to the revelation of sexual abuse has a strong influence on the subsequent course of any reaction. Male child/adolescent perpetrators and adult sex offenders have a frequent list of previous sexual abuse.

Conclusion

We need to talk about it. We need to create awareness. When we talk about abuse we need to talk about abuse of both men and women. When we talk about precautionary measures we need to talk about precaution for both men and women. We need to make it a safe environment for men to come out and talk about their experiences without it being trivialised or laughed at. Future research should aim to match perpetrator gender to outcome research. There are no research studies which systematically evaluate the treatment of sexually abused boys. Studies that do refer to the treatment do so on a single case basis. Treatment programs could be made to be more adaptive based on gender. It is slowly being acknowledged that more research should focus on the correlates and consequences of male sexual abuse. There needs to be more scientific research to give more insights about how abuse affects men. It is also important to research on the different reaction patterns of male and female victims because it will help to develop gender-specific preventive and intervention activities. If future research continues to support the idea that history of sexual abuse significantly increases the probability of becoming a perpetrator, then identifying such at-risk boys would help in developing preventive measures. Parents have to be more understanding and accepting of their children when they confide in them about their abusive past or present scenario.