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Dr Clíona Saidléar, Executive Director of Rape Crisis Ireland (left) with Dr Kennath Widanaralalage of the Department of Psychology at King’s College, London and Sally Aquilina of RCI (right), pictured at launch of new RCI report

Rape Crisis Ireland says male survivors ‘must not be forgotten’ and encourages men to come forward

Dr Clíona Saidléar said the 2023 report is a ‘powerful insight into how our culture creates a climate of hostility for survivors and opportunity for perpetrators’.

RAPE CRISIS IRELAND has called for a “change in the climate for disclosure” for male survivors of rape and sexual assault.

Dr Clíona Saidléar, Executive Director of Rape Crisis Ireland (RCI) said that statistics collected from a sample of rape crisis centres across Ireland in 2023 shows that while sexual violence is the same for all survivors, there are “key and impactful differences” in the way male and female survivors were targeted.

The 2023 report reveals that for those who experienced sexual violence between the ages of 13–17, if the abuse was not disclosed within a year of the incident, there was a significant time lapse between males and females before making a disclosure.

Some 33% of male survivors waited 10 years or more before making a disclosure, compared to 16% for females.

Boys aged under 13 were also six times more likely to have been abused by an authority figure, such as clergy or teachers (18% among boys, compared to 3% for girls).​

Similarly, for men who experience sexual violence in adulthood, if they do not disclose this early within the first year, there will be a significant gap before the first disclosure. 

And for females, 39% made their first disclosure to a parent, compared to 25% among males, while 25% of males made their first disclosure to a medical professional, compared to 7% among females.

“The overall pattern is that women felt safe accessing a much broader set of opportunities and choices for disclosure,” said Saidléar.

“Male survivors of adult abuse were most likely to disclose to a partner (26%), a member of An Garda Síochána (26%), a family member other than a parent (16%), or a medical professional (11%).”

All 17 rape crisis centres in Ireland welcome male victims through their doors and offer counselling and other supports. 

“While acknowledging that 88% of sexual survivors were women, the 12% of male survivors must not be forgotten,” said Saidléar.

“Men are targeted differently and the difficulties they face following sexual violence are different too, which means how we think about creating safety, healing and justice for men must be different.”

She added that what happens to men after a sexual assault is a “powerful insight into how our culture creates a climate of hostility for survivors and opportunity for perpetrators”.

“How we discriminate on the grounds of sex, gender and sexuality helps to silence and shame survivors, blames and disbelieves them, and minimises both the harm to them and their right to vindication and justice,” said Saidléar.

She remarked that RCI would like to see more men coming forward and receiving support, “whether that is from their friends or from a professional, such as a doctor or rape crisis counsellor”.

Saidléar added that because men who have been subjected to sexual violence are a minority within sexual violence, their “experiences may not always be visible to us when they differ from the norm, which is dominated by women and children’s experiences”.

As a result, Rape Crisis Ireland has chosen to focus on what male survivors of sexual violence attending the rape crisis centres in the 2023 report have told RCI.

“This evidence from male survivors begs a range of important questions we need to research in order to understand and respond more fully to the impacts of sexual violence on males as well as females,” said Saidléar.

“We must ensure that friends, family, and indeed medical professionals and An Garda Síochána can provide all survivors of sexual violence with a response that supports and builds justice.” 

Dr Kennath Widanaralalage of the Department of Psychology at King’s College, London said the RCI’s “focus is fundamental, given how political and public dialogue continues to minimise and even trivialise men’s sexual victimisation”.

“As the RCI report underscores, there are significant similarities between male and female survivors, indicating that the sexual nature of the offence shapes the symptomatology of rape victims across genders,” Dr Widanaralalage added.

“However, it is equally important to recognise male survivors’ gendered experiences.

“Men often encounter unique barriers rooted in societal expectations that frame them as stoic, invulnerable, and independent.

“This gendered pressure frequently exacerbates feelings of shame and discourages men from seeking support from their social networks, which may explain the RCI data showing that medical professionals are often men’s first point of disclosure.”

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