In the article Attitudes Toward Rape, the main topic is how rape behavior relies on people believing rape myths. This article expresses the thought that men are more susceptible to going along with rape myths. It is hinted that the reason this is, is because of the fact that men believe women like to be victimized. In table one of the article it states “Some women secretly want to be raped.”(Larsen, Long, 1988;301). This clearly shows that some people do believe that women love the thought of being victimized therefore they would like to be raped. The article brings up the idea that more men than women believe that the victim has some sort of blame in the situation. I do believe though that this article was in some way trying to emphasize that if there weren’t so many rape myths out there then these ideas wouldn’t be out there either.
The article itself was very well put together, the writers were extremely strategic about the way they wrote the article. Including several statistics was a good choice because it makes what they are saying even more authentic. When numbers are brought into the picture it always gives the stated opinion a stronger base to go off of. Along with the numbers I believe that having comments from the people who the survey was given to was a smart idea because it lets us as the reader know where the person’s mind was when they were answering the survey. Knowing how some of the people felt made me understand exactly what their point of view was and made me question why they thought like that. Another smart thing that the writers did was giving subtitles to each section. The reason I say this is smart is due to the fact that it makes it easier to navigate through the article.
This article, although hinting at a few thoughts that can be represented in my topic seems to have a totally different viewpoint. Throughout the whole article it expresses the fact that men seem to be the problem when it comes to the stigma around rape. I disagree I believe rape can happen to anyone and I believe that it does not matter what the person looks like or is wearing in order for them to be a victim. I think that a huge misconception that this article is portraying is that all men feel the need to be dominant and take over women. But as we all know rape can happen in reverse order, men are just as likely if not more likely to be victims of sexual assault. Obviously making rape myths go away isn’t something that can happen overnight, but if people were more willing to speak about their experiences then maybe the myths would slowly become extinct. One of the main reasons that these myths exist about men is because men usually do not talk about the trauma that they have gone through. If society as a whole made it easier to talk about rape in general I believe a lot of these myths would disappear.
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The next article is Overcoming the Stigma of Sexual Assault: Know the Facts. This specific article highlights the idea that myths about rape can actually hurt the victim a lot more than anything else and it lists twelve myths about rape. Throughout the article we are given the common statements when referring to rape. There is one specific statement that shows that men aren’t thought to be able to be raped. In the article, it states “Only vaginal penetration counts as sexual assault.” (Villines, 2019). This is one of the many reasons why men are looked down upon if they say they have been sexually assaulted. Rape is something that can be defined in many ways but because society sees it in only one light it makes coming out about being raped harder for women and especially men. This article also states the idea that if someone was raped they would report it immediately. (Villines, 2019). What people fail to remember is that when someone has been attacked in this way the last thing they want to do is be forced to stand up to their perpetrator. Reporting a rape leads to eventually having to go to court if the case goes right and in court it is known that when on the stand you will be ripped apart by the defense attorney. This causes several victims to stray away from reporting because they don’t want to relive the attack and it forces them to fight for something that the defense attorney wouldn’t be able to understand.
This article has several aspects that cause it to be trusted by many who read it and use it for a paper. Throughout multiple of the myths the writer uses percentages and statistics to express exactly what she is saying. When using percentages it proves several things, in this case many of the percentages were higher for men than many people would think. This proves the fact that men are attacked and they should be given the same treatment that female victims are given. I believe another smart decision that was made by the writer was numbering the myths and labeling what the myth was. Choosing to do this makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for and it gives the article a more organized look. Following the title of the myth with a fact and then an explanation that goes in-depth about that specific myth is a good decision. The reason that setting the article up like that is smart is because it gives the myth a backbone meaning that it gives it substance and a reason as to why it is a myth versus it being considered the truth.
In comparison to my topic I believe that this article addresses a lot of what I am trying to state in my paper. The article like my paper expresses all of the different societal standards that go towards the topic of rape. Multiple times in the article it touched upon the thought of rape when it comes to men. This specific article has multiple aspects where it expresses that just because you hear about rape with male perpetrators and female victims doesn’t mean that, that is the only type of rape there is. Society nowadays turns a blind eye to the idea of rape towards men because they believe that a man should be able to fight a woman off no matter their size. The stigma on the rape of men is proven all throughout this article as incorrect, men are just as likely to be a victim of rape. Men are likely to be raped because of the idea that they can’t be, this idea makes it easy for people to get away with it because people rarely take men seriously when they claim to have been raped. Societies’ standards are what create people’s opinions towards the stigma on men being raped therefore it needs to be talked about in order to understand what people think about it.
The article Male Rape: The Silent Victim and the Gender of the Listener is all about the gender of the counselor that a male rape victim goes to and why they tend to go to that gender. In the article, it talks about rape on men in the military and how it makes them feel when they admit that are a victim. It is expressed in the article that men just like women tend to not go to any type of place where they can receive medical help. In the article it is stated that men are even less likely to report that they have been raped. A huge issue that is talked about is the fact that men after being raped lose their sense of masculinity which leads to them not wanting to even admit to their loved ones that something as traumatic as rape had happened to them. In the article she talks about a situation where four veterans who were rape victims go to a Veteran Affairs outpatient clinic. Each and every single one of the veterans wanted to talk to a female psychiatrist and expressed that talking to a male psychiatrist was hard. In the article, it states “It is possible that male rape victims experience more negative counter-transference reactions from male psychiatrists.”(Ricciardi, 2010). This quote explains that sometimes it may be harder for male psychiatrists or males, in general, to hide their feelings towards rape especially when it includes two men. Towards the end of the article it is then stated that there should be more research towards how to treat male victims because just like in any other topic men and women react differently to certain types of tactics when it comes to helping them cope with something traumatic.
The way this article is written is much different than all of the other articles. Unlike the other articles this one was much shorter and to the point and there weren’t any statistics throughout the whole article. Although I find statistics to be a very important part of an article I believe that in this article it wasn’t needed. When an article has a story like this one did I feel as though statistics can almost take away from the meaning of the article. The story that was told was given just enough detail to get the point across and it had an impact. All throughout this article there was a clear and concise topic, there was never a misunderstanding as to where the writer was going. This writer knew what she wanted to portray in her article and she knew exactly how to express her topic therefore she didn’t need to follow the same procedure as other writers usually do.
I believe this article really goes along with my topic due to the fact that it expresses the point of view of multiple men who had been raped. It then addressed the fact that men along with not being able to express their feelings also have a hard time hiding certain emotions. The fact that in this article men specifically in the medical field can possibly show disgust towards someone who was raped by another man is sad. As is it’s hard for a man to admit that someone took advantage of him so when he finally lets it out for him to be judged by someone who is supposed to help it can force him to shut others out. I believe that if someone is going to work in a field where they have to counsel someone they should be able to hide their own personal beliefs because if not then they may cause more damage than anything else. This specific article shows the attitude that some men have towards the stigma of rape when it comes to the male gender.
Underreporting among males likely due to gender-based stigma is all about how men don’t report their sexual assault experiences because it will make them seem gay or less strong. The article talks about how men are actually more likely to be victimized than a woman but more specifically by a stranger and someone from the same gender. In the text it states “Males may be particularly unlikely to report and come forward because victims are thought to be weak, vulnerable, unable to protect themselves and in need of help or assistance,” Stroshine said. (Martinez, 2018). This quote emphasizes the fact that when men are sexually assaulted they stray away from reporting it because they believe it will take away their masculinity. This article emphasizes that men need to start making other men take accountability for what they have done in order for others to be able to admit that something happened to them.
This article has a flow to it that makes it an easy read and it makes it easy to follow. Including so many quotes and statistics in this article helped to make this article more credible. The writer had a point to make and including facts with percentages made what he was saying have more substance. Although his writing was a little harder to get into he had several points that definitely need to be addressed in today’s society. He addresses the topic of normalization which I believe is something that he needed to talk about in order to make his point more powerful. The normalization that society has towards rape is a huge part of why people don’t report and I think that is something that needs to be said.
This article to me represents a huge part of my topic because it talks about how hard it is for men to talk about their experiences due to the fact that they are afraid that they will be seen as weak. No one should ever feel as though others will see them in a different light because of an experience that they have been through. If anything people should be perceived as stronger for surviving a traumatic experience like rape. The article truly showed that men being raped needs to be something that people start talking about because if they don’t no one will ever be able to accept the fact that the male gender can be raped. In comparison to how I feel this article shines a little bit of light on it because
