Men and boys count among the victims of sexual violence. Estimates and contexts vary, but it seems that worldwide, they make up around 10% of victims of sexual violence. According to Rees Mann, the founder of South African Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse, one in six adult males in the country have been victims of sexual offences in their lifetimes and, in 2012, 19.4% of all sexual abuse victims were male. But men are up to 10 times less likely than women to report sexual violence against them.
In a 2017 news report, an anonymous victim says he tried to tell his closest male friends about being raped. They laughed and said, “What, are you gay now?” and he responded with, “I am not gay. I was raped.” He then withdrew from them. Some feminist activists are reluctant to focus on the male victims because they think it will undermine long-fought-for attention for female victims.
