Sharing – Half of men have had unwanted sexual experiences, UK study finds
We have always kind of known that the estimates for all survivors is low because of underreporting, especially for men, where reporting is actually pretty uncommon. What this study is suggesting is that the numbers we typically rely on, are significantly lower than the reality.
“According to the research, carried out for Mankind and seen by the Guardian, 9% of people identifying as men said they had been raped or assaulted by penetration, 14% had been coerced or pressured into sexual activity and 21% had taken part in sexual activity with an adult while under the legal age of consent. This was revealed in a poll of more than 1,000 people carried out by Savanta ComRes on the charity’s behalf.”
I’d like to think that results like these would eliminate the idea that being a victim of sexual violence is something that happens to other people, not anyone I know. But, without the individual stories, I’m afraid it won’t. People who don’t know anyone in their circles who are survivors will continue to not pay any attention, and find reasons why it happened to other people and not them.
Despite the fact that the numbers mostly seem to indicate the likelihood of being a victim versus not is mostly just a matter of luck.
