serving the university of texas at austin community since
@thedailytexan |
thedailytexan . com
1900
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018
volume
119,
issue
I’m a survivor, too A male UT student joins the dialogue about sexual assault. By Lisa Dreher @lisa_dreher97
joshua guenther | the daily texan staff infographics by rena li | the daily texan staff
Editor’s note: The name of the source has been changed to protect their privacy.
Abuse & Incest National Network and the orgacontribute to the discrepancy between reports by nization 1in6 — which specifically helps male and men and women, Anderson said. male-identifying survivors — offer multiple re“I think because we see a higher rates of vicames wasn’t sure what to think sources such as support groups and hotlines for timization of women, that in itself is going to walking back to his apartment survivors on campus. be a disproportionate number of complaints after a one-night stand with a Seth Stewart is the development and commufrom women,” Anderson said. “When we do see man he met on a dating app nications director for 1in6, named after the stamen have been victimized in some way, shape his freshman year at UT. All he tistic that 1 in 6 men will be sexually assaulted or or form, they feel less comfortable coming forknew was he felt more vulneraabused. Men often do not come forward because ward. And not that everything is men-on-women ble than ever before. of social norms about masculinity, Stewart said. (or) women-on-men, we see same-sex violence “At first I didn’t classify it as “They’ll call it hazing, they’ll call it humiliaas well.” rape because it didn’t feel like rape, but then it tion,” Stewart said. “Part of that is sort of putAbout 15 percent of female UT students and 5 was like, ‘What does rape feel like?’” James said. ting it in a certain box to preserve a percent of male students reported being raped at “But if a friend told me that expericertain kind of strength or confidence UT, according to the 2017 Cultivating Learning ence, I would probably just say ‘rape,’ or masculinity.” and Safe Environments survey. but I wouldn’t talk about it. I was James said he blamed himself for Men are often are left out of the dialogue about afraid to be vulnerable around men the incident and worked out more to sexual assault, which should include discussion for a long time after that.” try to fight the idea that he was too about more men without taking away from womAs a man, James said he struggles weak to fight en’s experiences, sharing his story because of the stigoff the perpeStewart said. ma that male sexual assault survivors trator. He now “There can be Number of Title IX complaints MEN are weak or were not assaulted to does not feel — and not all the alleging sexual assault increase & begin with. comfortable time of course “It affected who I was fundamenbeing alone — sometimes SCHOOL YR MEN WOMEN tally as a man, because being violated with men. the automatic is not necessarily the description of “Before it assumption that 18 127 2016-17 what you would consider a man to happened to men are bystand(be),” he said. me, I never ers watching 2017-18 39 171 Thirty-nine complaints alleging thought how this happen to WOMEN sexual assault were filed by men to large a guy women or they’re +116% +34% will be sexually UT’s Title IX Office for the 2017– could be, how perpetrators,” abused or 2018 academic school year, accordhe could overStewart said. “So, assaulted in ing to information obtained by The power me,” James said. “That’s probthinking about a man as a survivor is not the first their lifetime Daily Texan through a Texas Public ably a thing that many women think place that some people’s minds go to.” Information Act request. During the about a lot, but for me, that never was. I Using alcohol and drugs to cope with sexual same year, 171 complaints alleging started working out a lot after I was asassault often occurs during college, Stewart said. sexual assault were filed by women. saulted. I think about the fact that I was probably James said he drank and used drugs to deal with James said he did not report his inciscrawny then … like it was my own fault for not his trauma. dent to police for fear of a long and painful being stronger.” James said he is currently doing better after legal process. James said he did not disclose the incident time has passed, but he knows the psychological Research shows these gaps are consistent to many friends, and he anticipates mostly effects will follow him. He hopes more people with the typical ratio of reports by men and negative reactions after sharing because sohave empathy, not only when survivors disclose by women, Title IX Office Coordinator Krista ciety frames sexual abuse and harassment of but when they are coping with the trauma in Anderson said. men as humorous or not at all something to be their daily lives following the assault. “If someone who is male-identifying has been taken seriously. “People have a tendency to treat male victims victimized, the likelihood they’ll likely come “For me, I’m bisexual, and I would never talk of sexual assault like ‘it’s your fault for not being forward is greatly reduced because of social about this with a girl I was interested in because man enough. It shouldn’t really have affected norms, cultural norms of men and masculinity,” of masculinity,” James said. you that much. Why is this a big deal?’” James Anderson said. The fact that men are less likely to report being said. “Especially if you’re a straight guy, it’s like, Organizations and services such as UT’s sexually assaulted, as well as typically being the ‘You got sex, why are you treating this like it’s a Counseling and Mental Health Center, the Rape, perpetrators of sexual violence on women, both bad thing?’”
J
1 in 6
1 in 3
80