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Friday, March 29, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

Sexual assault is not a gender-specific issue

In the wake of recent high-profile cases of sexual assault against women on college campuses, including the incidents at UF in late August and early September, the issue has gained new importance among America’s youth.

Emma Watson’s much-celebrated speech at the U.N. and her subsequent launch of the HeForShe campaign encouraged both males and females to join in the struggle for gender equality.

The efforts of Watson and other activists to engage men in the gender equality movement are admirable. However, such efforts often underplay or altogether ignore the extent to which some of the most important issues women face — particularly sexual violence — affect men as well.

Incidents of sexual assault against male victims are much more common than many people realize. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), about 10 percent of U.S. sexual assault victims are male. Last year’s National Crime Victimization Survey found that a stunning 38 percent of sexual violence cases involved male victims.

The issue of sexual assault against men is particularly prominent in the U.S. military. In 2013, nearly 14,000 men said they were assaulted, compared to 12,000 women. Obviously, the fact that there are many more men than women in the armed forces skews these numbers. Regardless, they still show that rape and sexual assault are not single-gender issues.

On Saturday night, a man was sexually assaulted on the UF campus by another male.

University Police released a “timely warning” following the incident, which stated the victim chose not to pursue further law enforcement investigation of the assault.

Although it is impossible to speculate about this individual’s reasons for declining an investigation, our society’s stigma against victims of rape and sexual assault deters thousands of individuals from even reporting such incidents.

Citing Justice Department statistics, RAINN has found that nearly 60 percent of cases of rape and sexual assault go unreported.

Many male victims of sexual assault experience the same psychological and emotional effects as female victims, including anxiety, depression and anger. Male victims may also grapple with additional suffering. They may question their sexuality and blame themselves for not being strong enough to ward off their attacker.

There is no doubt sexual assault primarily involves cases of male perpetrators and female victims. However, the recent incident at UF serves as a stark reminder that sexual assault can happen to anyone.

The fact that people of all genders can be victims of rape and sexual assault further reinforces the notion that each and every person has a role to play in the fight for equality. Such equality cannot be achieved until issues of sexual violence against all genders are acknowledged, respected and destigmatized.

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[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 10/21/2014]

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