Men's Group
In reply to the discussion: Something making you feel bad isn't the same as Misogyny [View all]westerebus
(2,977 posts)The term "rape culture" does not adequately describe a large part of a horrific problem glossed over in the statistics. 60% of reported rapes happen before the person is 18 years old with the almost half the victims reporting knowing the offender.
What that says to me is we have an "incest culture" on equal footing with the rape of women. This problem involving children with the predominance of female children being the victims isn't being discussed by either side.
First, not all sexual assaults are father or step-father on daughter, but male sibling on female sibling. It expands from there to include other family relations and others known to the family of the victim in a majority of the cases.
For what I have to say, I will keep to the male-female interaction with the male as the instigator or aggressor. One third of these assaults occur before the child is eleven years old.
Given the trauma a young child would endure, is it possible that at a later point in life this victim would chose not to report a rape as an adult?
Which brings me to the other popular statement: "all men are potential rapists". The reality is all humans are potential rapists. As boys are males and as girls are females, what might be correct to say is "Males are more prone to rape than females" and the distinction that only adult men rape is put into a less inflammatory perspective.
Finally, I don't want to leave out male children who are victims of sexual assault. They too knew their assailant. Often, an authority figure known to the family and more often a representative of a religious organization.
There is a lot of work to be done as far as I can tell. Thanks for giving me this opportunity to speak my mind.