Male victims of sexual violence in games, comics, movies, whatever.

[Vinculi]

OK, firstly, the purpose of this is not "men get raped too so we need to stop talking about women" or any of the bile that occaisionally gets spat out to defend sexism or rape jokes, so if you want to discuss that, please take it elswhere.

The purpose of making this thread was to ask you all a simple question, mainly inspired by the "In defence of Frank Miller" thread elswhere on the forum, and that is, "does it seem like depicting or referencing sexual violence with women as the victims is somehow more ok or more liked in modern media than depicting men as the victims?"

A while ago, a campaign aimed at encouraging male victims of sex crime to come forward was run in London, it was called "Real men get raped", (and since my HTML coding has gotten very sloppy, here is an url, http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/26/male-rape-charity-poster-campaign-six-nations), and it got me thinking, why does it seem like we are uncomfortable talking about this when we seem happy to debate depictions of sex crime that victimises women? This article claims that the U.K government believes only 11% of male sex crime victims report their crime, why the hell is that?

I mean, if someone did a bizzarro Frank miller comic or game or something, where men are consistently depicted as sex objects for capable women and victims of sexual violence or exploitation, or someone used the "woman in Refridgerator trope in reverse, how would that be reacted to? Would people read it? Would it be an interesting change to see a woman surrounded by sexualised, victimised men, or would everyone hate it?

And lastly, out of interest, can anyone name some instances of this sort of representation occuring? Beyond the occaisional reference to or depiction of prison rape (Also not funny, btw guys), I can't think of any occurence of males being victimised by sexual crimes in comics or games.

Maybe this isn't the best place to discuss the construction of masculinity and its consequences for victims of sex crime, but I feel like the people here on the escapist will be capable of discussing the matter maturely. I just don't have the comic/game knowledge of all of us combined, and I was wondering if anyone else had been bothered by all this.


Also, oh dear, my captcha was "hissy fit", I have a bad feeling.

Edited 'cos I can't proof read.

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

Nightwing got raped in some odd story arc once.
It made very little sense, and tbh he probably would have eventually slept with his "Rapist" eventually.
It seems likely because she had red hair.

 

[Bertylicious]

... Would it be an interesting change to see a woman surrounded by sexualised, victimised men, or would everyone hate it?

Hawt.

Erudite statement about sex in modern culture and patriarchy.

I agree, but I would add (or should it be venture?) that violation also holds a fascination for men. For instance, the teenage fantasy of being able to stop time and have sex with a woman without her knowing about it is suprisingly common.

Ultimately it comes down to sexual power fantasies. In male homosexual porn there are just as many rape fantasies as there are in male heterosexual porn, though I feel ill equipped to comment on female sexual power fantasies. This, incidentally, I feel is further proof of the patriarchal concept you've outlined.

It would be interesting to get a woman's perspective on all this.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Would people read it? Would it be an interesting change to see a woman surrounded by sexualised, victimised men, or would everyone hate it

Well, uhh, actually for me personally, that sounds.. hmm, well, I'm actually sort of, turned on by that sort of thing, so really..

Yeah, I'll just shut up and leave this thread I think.

 

[Vinculi]

Wow, eloquent responses on the topic, way to go internet!

But seriously, I can understand where something like "ex-prostitute" for a character archetype comes from, I mean,desperation makes people willing to things they wouldn't have otherwise, and anyone who's read anything by, say, William Burroughs will understand that dealing with that can make for an interesting story, but how many male characters have been created in modern fiction have been written with this sort of background? And how does that compare to the number of female characters of that archetype?

Well, uhh, actually for me personally, that sounds.. hmm, well, I'm actually sort of, turned on by that sort of thing, so really..

Yeah, I'll just shut up and leave this thread I think.

No, its fine to say that, I was asking for opinions, and its fine by me to say that.

Are you a man or woman, if I may ask?

Capcha: "Cat's cradle", man, I loved that book.

 

[Thaluikhain]

You do see this sort of thing around sometimes. In certain works of fiction, anyone gay or bi is either a rape victim or a rapist...yeah.

Being raped isn't supposed to happen to men. It's assumed that it's going to happen to women, that it's something only women need be concerned with. When people are looking for some female backstroy, they often turn to sexual abuse because it's a female concern.

Male rape doesn't fit that worldview, it's therefore ignored (except to use for political points when attacking something else).

Nightwing got raped in some odd story arc once.
It made very little sense, and tbh he probably would have eventually slept with his "Rapist" eventually.
It seems likely because she had red hair.

With Tarantula?

IIRC, the authors sort of dodged the issue, they said it wasn't rape, just that he wasn't consenting...of course that's the same thing though.

From whar I remember of the comic, though, he was consenting, just not enthusiastically.

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

You do see this sort of thing around sometimes. In certain works of fiction, anyone gay or bi is either a rape victim or a rapist...yeah.

Being raped isn't supposed to happen to men. It's assumed that it's going to happen to women, that it's something only women need be concerned with. When people are looking for some female backstroy, they often turn to sexual abuse because it's a female concern.

Male rape doesn't fit that worldview, it's therefore ignored (except to use for political points when attacking something else).

Nightwing got raped in some odd story arc once.
It made very little sense, and tbh he probably would have eventually slept with his "Rapist" eventually.
It seems likely because she had red hair.

With Tarantula?

IIRC, the authors sort of dodged the issue, they said it wasn't rape, just that he wasn't consenting...of course that's the same thing though.

From whar I remember of the comic, though, he was consenting, just not enthusiastically.

I started to doubt it to be rape when he got up and started violently fucking her whilst shouting "I'M NOT CONSENTING!"
(That didn't really happen)

 

[Nouw]

Shawshank Redemption had some male rape I believe. No, this isn't a spoiler.

 

[Vinculi]

I started to doubt it to be rape when he got up and started violently fucking her whilst shouting "I'M NOT CONSENTING!"
(That didn't really happen)

Well, that would just be the reverse of something I've seen fictionalised plenty of times (I hope I don't have to say where).

You do see this sort of thing around sometimes. In certain works of fiction, anyone gay or bi is either a rape victim or a rapist...yeah.

Being raped isn't supposed to happen to men. It's assumed that it's going to happen to women, that it's something only women need be concerned with.

Well that's kinda the problem, isn't it? Rape isn't supposed to happen to anyone, but for some reason, we seem comfortable with the idea of a woman dealing with a past of sexual violence, but not with a man.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Are you a man or woman, if I may ask?

I am a male. Sexually, I'm very submissive, that's how I find this sort of thing somewhat.. appealing, for lack of a better word.

 

[Vinculi]

Are you a man or woman, if I may ask?

I am a male. Sexually, I'm very submissive, that's how I find this sort of thing somewhat.. appealing, for lack of a better word.

OK, cool, thanks for that.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I recall that The Bill had an episode in which a man was raped by a woman through blackmail.

Shawshank Redemption had some male rape I believe. No, this isn't a spoiler.

Vinculi said this: "Beyond the occaisional reference to or depiction of prison rape (Also not funny, btw guys), I can't think of any occurence of males being victimised by sexual crimes in comics or games."

 

[Nouw]

I recall that The Bill had an episode in which a man was raped by a woman through blackmail.

Shawshank Redemption had some male rape I believe. No, this isn't a spoiler.

Vinculi said this: "Beyond the occaisional reference to or depiction of prison rape (Also not funny, btw guys), I can't think of any occurence of males being victimised by sexual crimes in comics or games."

Aaah missed that, thanks for bringing it to my attention in a polite manner .

 

[Relish in Chaos]

You're welcome.

 

[Vinculi]

I recall that The Bill had an episode in which a man was raped by a woman through blackmail.

Shawshank Redemption had some male rape I believe. No, this isn't a spoiler.

Vinculi said this: "Beyond the occaisional reference to or depiction of prison rape (Also not funny, btw guys), I can't think of any occurence of males being victimised by sexual crimes in comics or games."

Aaah missed that, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Not that the depiction of prison-rape isn't an interesting topic, as a phenomenon, it has the opposite position in popular culture to regular male-victimising sex crime, which is extremely trivialised, probably because "har har dey deserves it" or some such thing (although I'm guessing that wasn't the point of it in Shawshank Redemption), I was more looking to exclude prison-rape from the discussion because it seems to have gone in the opposite direction of all other sex crimes that vicimise men, and I thought it ought to be a separate discussion as a result.

 

[Nouw]

I recall that The Bill had an episode in which a man was raped by a woman through blackmail.

Shawshank Redemption had some male rape I believe. No, this isn't a spoiler.

Vinculi said this: "Beyond the occaisional reference to or depiction of prison rape (Also not funny, btw guys), I can't think of any occurence of males being victimised by sexual crimes in comics or games."

Aaah missed that, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Not that the depiction of prison-rape isn't an interesting topic, as a phenomenon, it has the opposite position in popular culture to regular male-victimising sex crime, which is extremely trivialised, probably because "har har dey deserves it" or some such thing (although I'm guessing that wasn't the point of it in Shawshank Redemption), I was more looking to exclude prison-rape from the discussion because it seems to have gone in the opposite direction of all other sex crimes that vicimise men, and I thought it ought to be a separate discussion as a result.

And you are absolutely in the right to do that. It's good for a thread like this to have a clear-cut purpose and discussion value.

 

[Aglynugga]

There was an early film by Kevin Smith. I did not see it and I cannot remember the name, but I recall tales of how disturbing it was because of the rape of the male protagonist. Maybe the name will resurface from the murky depths of my memory.

I remember the film, but not the name of it. It's about a guy that decides to become a novelty 'sexy' clown, and shows up to the wrong party. Best line? 'I'm going to make hate to you.'

Lawerence of Arabia had a section where the dude gets raped in a turkish prison, but every one pretty much believes the author made that up because he liked rough dudes.

As for male rape, I can't remember the study I read, and I don't feel like looking, because I am fucking lazy, but *supposedly* the chances of males being raped are only a few percentiles lower than females between the ages of birth and 14, and then lower dramatically each year they grow older, while the percentile for females basically doesn't change.

 

[Thaluikhain]

As for male rape, I can't remember the study I read, and I don't feel like looking, because I am fucking lazy, but *supposedly* the chances of males being raped are only a few percentiles lower than females between the ages of birth and 14, and then lower dramatically each year they grow older, while the percentile for females basically doesn't change.

Yeah, I've seen similar statistics around, also no source to hand, though.

Mind you, child abuse is treated as being very serious by popular culture.