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| Can adult males be victims of sexual assault? | Can adult males be victims of sexual assault? |
| (5 months later) | |
| Unfortunately, every day seems to bring another horrendous story of sexual assault. The number of stories of teenage girls who are abused and then shamed by their peers through Twitter is astounding. As I write this, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, head of the Air Force's efforts to curb sexual assault, faces a sexual battery misdemeanor charge. The media is hardly perfect in covering sexual assault, but I do think it has made great strides in calling out some of the subtler issues of slut-shaming and victim-blaming ... that is, except when adult men are the victims. | Unfortunately, every day seems to bring another horrendous story of sexual assault. The number of stories of teenage girls who are abused and then shamed by their peers through Twitter is astounding. As I write this, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, head of the Air Force's efforts to curb sexual assault, faces a sexual battery misdemeanor charge. The media is hardly perfect in covering sexual assault, but I do think it has made great strides in calling out some of the subtler issues of slut-shaming and victim-blaming ... that is, except when adult men are the victims. |
| In case you hadn't heard, a female fan pushed her way on stage and forced herself on rapper Danny Brown in the middle of a performance, pulling his pants down and proceeding to perform sexual acts on him without indicating his consent. | In case you hadn't heard, a female fan pushed her way on stage and forced herself on rapper Danny Brown in the middle of a performance, pulling his pants down and proceeding to perform sexual acts on him without indicating his consent. |
| The headlines made the assault seem more raunchy than abusive and put the onus on Brown, often stating he "received oral sex mid-performance". The Daily Mail went so far as to say Brown had "sparked controversy by allegedly allowing a female fan to perform oral sex on him". In short, the coverage reeks of a "blame the victim" mentality, yet we haven't been willing to call it what it was because this act was committed on a man. The tone was as antiquated and, more importantly, as insensitive as telling a woman she was "asking for it" by wearing a red dress. | The headlines made the assault seem more raunchy than abusive and put the onus on Brown, often stating he "received oral sex mid-performance". The Daily Mail went so far as to say Brown had "sparked controversy by allegedly allowing a female fan to perform oral sex on him". In short, the coverage reeks of a "blame the victim" mentality, yet we haven't been willing to call it what it was because this act was committed on a man. The tone was as antiquated and, more importantly, as insensitive as telling a woman she was "asking for it" by wearing a red dress. |
| Brown's Tour mate and rapper Kitty Pryde wrote a scathing condemnation of the incident in a column for Vice: | Brown's Tour mate and rapper Kitty Pryde wrote a scathing condemnation of the incident in a column for Vice: |
| I'm mad that a person thought it was OK to pull another person's pants down during their performance.... I'm mad that a person thought it was a good idea to perform a sex act on another person without their consent. | I'm mad that a person thought it was OK to pull another person's pants down during their performance.... I'm mad that a person thought it was a good idea to perform a sex act on another person without their consent. |
| She describes how from the physical position Brown was in, the only move other than to back away (which she states he did) would have been to push or kick the alleged assailant, but that "guys pushing girls is not a good look when people are taking photos." Pryde adds "It's obvious the reason that no one cares is because a girl did it to a boy." | She describes how from the physical position Brown was in, the only move other than to back away (which she states he did) would have been to push or kick the alleged assailant, but that "guys pushing girls is not a good look when people are taking photos." Pryde adds "It's obvious the reason that no one cares is because a girl did it to a boy." |
| Despite this eyewitness account calling out the gender bias in the coverage, most media sources are loath to even seriously consider Brown a victim of sexual assault. Rich Juzwiak at Gawker doubted Pryde's account and included a graphic with the mocking headline "Ooops, I sucked your dick." The fact that commentators feel so unabashedly comfortable discussing whether a sexual incident should legitimately "count" as assault reflects a gender double standard in the level of sensitivity towards sexual assault. | Despite this eyewitness account calling out the gender bias in the coverage, most media sources are loath to even seriously consider Brown a victim of sexual assault. Rich Juzwiak at Gawker doubted Pryde's account and included a graphic with the mocking headline "Ooops, I sucked your dick." The fact that commentators feel so unabashedly comfortable discussing whether a sexual incident should legitimately "count" as assault reflects a gender double standard in the level of sensitivity towards sexual assault. |
| Part of this insensitivity might be a result of our society's struggle to consider adult males as victims of sexual assault. We think of heterosexual men as not only strong and in control, but also as always desiring sex, anytime or anywhere; and this holds especially strong when we think of uber-macho rappers. | Part of this insensitivity might be a result of our society's struggle to consider adult males as victims of sexual assault. We think of heterosexual men as not only strong and in control, but also as always desiring sex, anytime or anywhere; and this holds especially strong when we think of uber-macho rappers. |
| This pressure to perpetuate a hyper-version of horny heterosexual masculinity can't be dismissed, especially when commentators argue Brown bragged about the incident. Kendrick Lamar tweeted at Brown "u really just got head on stage???" With all the Twitterverse watching. Brown responded "didn't miss one bar bruh." He's since deleted that tweet and retweeted links to Pryde's column, but Juzwiak along with others have used it as prime evidence to prove that Brown was complicit. | This pressure to perpetuate a hyper-version of horny heterosexual masculinity can't be dismissed, especially when commentators argue Brown bragged about the incident. Kendrick Lamar tweeted at Brown "u really just got head on stage???" With all the Twitterverse watching. Brown responded "didn't miss one bar bruh." He's since deleted that tweet and retweeted links to Pryde's column, but Juzwiak along with others have used it as prime evidence to prove that Brown was complicit. |
| I find the tweet pretty damning, as well, until I consider how Brown might have been embarrassed to respond in any way to suggest he was a victim. Pryde believes Brown was in a no-win situation. If he had pushed the girl away and made it clear to the audience he was refusing a sexual encounter, he would "face attacks from every douchebro in the building" of being gay and, by homophobic proxy, weak – " a rapper's literal nightmare". | I find the tweet pretty damning, as well, until I consider how Brown might have been embarrassed to respond in any way to suggest he was a victim. Pryde believes Brown was in a no-win situation. If he had pushed the girl away and made it clear to the audience he was refusing a sexual encounter, he would "face attacks from every douchebro in the building" of being gay and, by homophobic proxy, weak – " a rapper's literal nightmare". |
| Embarrassment may seem a poor excuse for concealing one's assault, but I am fairly certain that if a woman or a child delayed reporting sexual abuse because she/he was too ashamed or scared to admit it, the media wouldn't doubt or dismiss those feelings. That's to the credit of news outlets, but they should be consistent with that sensitivity, regardless of whether men, women, or children are involved. | Embarrassment may seem a poor excuse for concealing one's assault, but I am fairly certain that if a woman or a child delayed reporting sexual abuse because she/he was too ashamed or scared to admit it, the media wouldn't doubt or dismiss those feelings. That's to the credit of news outlets, but they should be consistent with that sensitivity, regardless of whether men, women, or children are involved. |
| Instead, even with much clearer cases of sexual assault than the Danny Brown incident offers, the media still doesn't treat male rape seriously. Last year, two German men reported being forced to have sex with a woman against their will until they were physically sore and sobbing in the street. Britain's The Mirror described the alleged rapist as a "nymphomaniac" and featured seeming stock art of a woman and a man in bed. Imagine if that same image ran in the coverage of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn or Kobe Bryant trials, or if the two accused and later acquitted as rapists were merely described as "nymphomaniacs". | Instead, even with much clearer cases of sexual assault than the Danny Brown incident offers, the media still doesn't treat male rape seriously. Last year, two German men reported being forced to have sex with a woman against their will until they were physically sore and sobbing in the street. Britain's The Mirror described the alleged rapist as a "nymphomaniac" and featured seeming stock art of a woman and a man in bed. Imagine if that same image ran in the coverage of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn or Kobe Bryant trials, or if the two accused and later acquitted as rapists were merely described as "nymphomaniacs". |
| Ultimately, the issue isn't whether Danny Brown was sexually assaulted; it's how the media reframes or dismisses evidence of sexual assault when the victim in question is an adult man. By and large (online trolls aside), the media has thankfully come along way from shaming female sexual assault victims and scolding them for tempting men. But when men are victims, our inability to conceive of them as vulnerable to assault and rape dangerously desensitizes us. | Ultimately, the issue isn't whether Danny Brown was sexually assaulted; it's how the media reframes or dismisses evidence of sexual assault when the victim in question is an adult man. By and large (online trolls aside), the media has thankfully come along way from shaming female sexual assault victims and scolding them for tempting men. But when men are victims, our inability to conceive of them as vulnerable to assault and rape dangerously desensitizes us. |
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