An Alachua County Victim Services & Rape Crisis Center support group for male victims of sexual assault is on hold until enough people join.
Rita Lawrence, victim advocate counselor, said the center planned to start the group in January, but with only two people ready to join they will wait until they have at least three.
Lawrence said that she noticed men's specific needs were not being met in the coed groups. Society treats genders differently, and male survivors of sexual assault face different stereotypes, she said.
Separating support groups by gender is being done in other areas and seeing better results because victims feel more comfortable speaking among people of the same sex, she said.
Anna Savitsky, a victim advocate counselor for the center, said most male rape victims don't report their experiences, and of those, only five percent participate in support services.
Savitsky said being victimized is generally associated with females, and men are held to a high standard of masculinity.
Jay Herron, who was raped for the first time at a military detention center when he was 18, said society hasn't fully realized that men, not only women, are sexually assaulted.
Herron, now 57 and living in Levy County, said after spending years trying to deal with his trauma through drug and alcohol abuse, he has now dealt with it better by sharing his story with others.
This separate support group for men is important to speed up their healing process, he said.
