| |
A blog of all section with no images
|
Rape, Sexual Assault and Abuse
|
|
Written by James Landrith
|
|
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 |
|
NOTE: I am borrowing from the work of Jacob Taylor at Toy Soldiers for this article and I thank him for having done the hard work in digging out some key references. There is quite a bit written about the "gendered nature of abuse" and much of it is often used to silence or minimize male survivors. When stats are reviewed that actually treat male and female survivors equally by asking the SAME questions and using the SAME terminology to classify the results, then the numbers change drastically. See (http://toysoldier.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/yes-women-do-rape-boys/) for links to the studies and more in depth discussion: - In 1994, David Finkelhor published a paper reporting that women commit 20 percent of the sexual abuse against boys.
- In 1996, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect found that women committed 25 percent of sexual abuse against children.
- Both the 2000 American Association of University Women study and the Cameron study showed that about 42 percent of students reported abuse by women.
- The 2005 Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Sexual Abuse by Gender of Victim study found that women committed 38 percent of the abuse against boys.
- According to a 2008 University of British Columbia study of homeless youths, nearly half the youths said at least one woman sexually exploited them, and 1 in 3 said that only women exploited them.
- The 2008-09 Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth report found that of the staff members who sexually abused juveniles, women committing 95 percent of that abuse.
- In 2009, ChildLine received 2,142 calls from children abused by women, and found that boys reported more abuse by women (1,722 cases) than by men (1,651 cases).
Then, we have recent CDC study which intentionally misclassified rape against men by women as "forced to penetrate others", in which case when men were victims, the perps were 79.2% women and when men had been coerced (threatened, blackmailed, etc.) into sex, women were the perps 83.6% of the time. When men do this to women, the CDC properly classifies it as rape. However, when women do it men, the CDC classifies it otherwise. Yet some people use such clearly biased and skewed stat models to beat male survivors into submission with diatribes about how rape is gendered solely as man against woman. When men are raped, they are just victims of Teh Patriarchy.
From page 24 of the CDC report, where apparently men cannot be raped by women:
For male victims, the sex of the perpetrator varied by the type of sexual violence experienced. The majority of male rape victims (93.3%) reported only male perpetrators. For three of the other forms of sexual violence, a majority of male victims reported only female perpetrators: being made to penetrate (79.2%), sexual coercion (83.6%), and unwanted sexual contact (53.1%). For non-contact unwanted sexual experiences, approximately half of male victims (49.0%) reported only male perpetrators and more than one-third (37.7%) reported only female perpetrators (data not shown).
See http://toysoldier.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other/ for more information and discussion.
So, it does appear that for men, rape is gendered and that in some classifications of rape (even though the CDC intentionally misclassifies such to skew the numbers), women are the primary perpetrators.
It is far past time to stop promoting and defending statistical models that intentionally erase MILLIONS of survivors simply because they have the wrong genitalia to fit certain preconceived political arguments. Maybe before shouting "What About Teh Menz" in a mocking fit, you might want to check yourself and make sure you aren't part of the problem by promoting intentionally skewed stats that misrepresent the facts and hurt other survivors. It is one thing for a person to "speak the truth about their own experience", but quite another to misuse stats or create hierarchies of survivorhood based on gender.
If we are going to have adult conversations on rape and gender, then let's use real facts that treat survivors equally, rather than tortured stats that treat the same acts differently based solely on the gender of the victim and perpetrator. That would be far more compassionate and mature than continuing to mock us in ignorance.  Be first to comment this article |  Add as favourites (12) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 201
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 January 2012 )
|
|
|
Rape, Sexual Assault and Abuse
|
|
Written by James Landrith
|
|
Monday, 16 January 2012 |
|
While I have my own syndicated blog, I like to write for other blogs on occasion as well. My latest piece of work is at the Good Men Project:
I’ve Got the T-Shirt and the Trauma Response to Go With It http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/ive-got-the-t-shirt-and-the-trauma-response-to-go-with-it/ Excerpt: As a vocal male survivor, when I’m not talking about sexual violence in writing or before audiences, I’m reading about it in many contexts and sources. A great deal of what I see on a daily basis is directed at men with the assumption that we know nothing about sexual violence or have no experiences that parallel those of female survivors. Those making such arguments are often NOT sexual violence survivors themselves. Encountering such memes can be quite painful when you are a rape survivor yourself. The problem is not that female survivors receive the majority of the attention when sexual violence is discussed. The problem is that when sexual violence is discussed with regard to male survivors, there is often resistance, condescension, and outright mockery by people who quite often have not experienced such violence themselves. For those who have lived through abuse at the hands of women, that can be doubly wounding. I’ve lived through sexual violence. I have my own story and my own experiences. I have my own triggers and my own issues. I don’t need to be educated. I don’t need to be taught what to do or not do. I don’t need any proven statistical bias to legitimize my life or my experiences. I lived it.
Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (14) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 145 |
|
|
Health and Medicine
|
|
Written by James Landrith
|
|
Sunday, 08 January 2012 |
|
For my human resources colleagues: The Virginia DMV has issued new medical certification requirements for CDL holders. As the hard copy FAQ and letter sent to one of my drivers seemed to contradict each other, I called the DMV to confirm the changes. The short of it is that EFFECTIVE 1/30/2012, but NO LATER THAN 1/30/2014, EXISTING licensed as well as new drivers must provide the DMV with a completed Self Certification form (DL8) and if applicable, either a copy of their medical examiner's certificate (DOT Medical Card) or their state approved medical variance/waiver letter. If their medical examiner's certificate indicates that they have been granted a federal waiver exemption and/or skill performance evaluation certificate (SPE) they will also be required to submit a copy of it. These documents can be faxed, mailed or electronically submitted. If you have drivers on your payroll, I highly recommend that you take some time to familiarize yourself with these new regulations. The relevant links are below:
Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (20) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 228 |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 January 2012 )
|
|
|
Rape, Sexual Assault and Abuse
|
|
Written by James Landrith
|
|
Friday, 06 January 2012 |
|
Emily L. Hauser, writing on the "Men Can Stop Rape" campaign: I think they are part of an important larger trend, one that can be seen in a broad array of efforts to get men involved in fighting the scourge of sexual violence, and can be heard in the voices of individual men who are standing up and speaking out. And I think that good, powerful images are one of the most powerful weapons we have in any advocacy campaign. I wish these posters were being put up all over the country. Women can fight rape — but only men can actually stop rape. Efforts like this give me hope.
Unlike many similar efforts, this is an important and maturely executed campaign that treats men like adults and projects a positive and non-accusatory message. I’ve seen these posters for a while now and liked the message. That said, I do have a quibble with the concept that "only men can actually stop rape". Contrary to to the author's claim, women can also stop rape as some of them ARE rapists too. Violence (sexual or otherwise) isn't a men's only club. Not only do some women molest, rape and sexually abuse male and female children and adults, they are often complicit in male predation as well. Get a group of female survivors of male predators together and you will find a large number of women who were completely failed by mothers, aunts, grandmothers, neighbors and teachers who knew what was happening or worse - helped facilitate and cover up the abuse. In addition, women also set up other women for rape as revenge, jealousy, or out of hatred. This problem is so much larger than just pointing at men and saying "stop it." For those who don't know and because it helps color my own view of the situation, I was raped by a woman who drugged me. I’m sorry, but she also needs to be include in the masses who can stop rape. I'd suggest that any person who used a fetus as a human shield to keep a person compliant for the purposes of committing rape (after the drugs that she had previously administered via an alcoholic beverage wore off) was definitely someone who can and should contribute to ending rape. She, and abusive women like her, are certainly part of the problem. Her possession of female genitalia doesn't change a damned thing about her actions or accountability. Since getting involved in sexual violence advocacy work as a speaker and trainer (and survivor), I’ve heard from many male and female survivors of female predators. Women who commit sexual violence fly gracefully under the radar partially based on gender norms that view women as incapable of being monsters and men as less masculine if they admit they can be vulnerable. While empowering campaigns like this one do us no harm, claims that "only men can actually stop rape" serve to further erase and minimize our own personal experiences which don’t fit neatly into the predominant narrative on sexual violence. Yes, I understand the stats and I can also pick many of the methodologies apart without trying – including the recent CDC study which claims that a woman forcing a male (adult or child) to penetrate her is not rape. How exactly can anyone justify using alternative language to downgrade such an action based solely on the genders of the perpetrator and victim? I do understand Emily's point, but my own experience differs with that perspective. As much as I’d love to pretend that female rapists don’t exist or matter, I have to deal with the consequences of my own rapist's actions every day – and the general mockery and denial of men and women alike who dismiss, minimize and willfully confuse the issue with regard to female predation. While I do support the campaign's message and the tactful and mature manner in which it has presented the images, I hope people can understand how the view is different from this angle. Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (22) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 455 |
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 January 2012 )
|
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
| | Results 1 - 8 of 3443 |
|
|
