Male Rape. Part 6.

Psychological Issues

It's been said before, but it needs to be said again. The effects of male rape can cause Rape Related Trauma in men and women. It's a form of post traumatic stress disorder related to rape which can last a lifetime if not dealt with. It can cause a range of emotions and psychological issue in men.

Because of the way male rape has been dealt with or rather not dealt with in prisons, many men are leaving jail, and spending the rest of their stays in jail with these issues unresolved.
When they go out or are released back into society these issue continue to play themselves out. Which can have other unforeseen consequences for society, such as financial or the risk of violence being repeated in society.

More men are raped in jail than women are raped in the whole of the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_rape

[quote]In 2001 Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 140,000 inmates in the US had been raped while incarcerated,[1] and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race. Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc. statistics indicate that there are more men raped in U.S. prisons than non-incarcerated women similarly assaulted. They estimate that young men are five times more likely to be attacked; and that the prison rape victims are ten times more likely to contract a deadly disease.[/quote]

HIV/AIDS

Next to natural causes, this is the second leading cause of death in male prisons across America. Due to the unsafe nature of male on male sex in these prisons, and the promiscuous nature of male on male sex, a mans chances of being exposed to HIV are very high. Nothing is being done to stop this, such as handing out condoms, or even trying to stop the rapes from happening.
There has been legislation passed to try to combat rapes in America, but without the staff to further stop this from happening, legislation alone won't work.

The way some men lessen their chances of HIV and being passed around to dozens or hundreds of men in their prison stays is to enter into a protective pairing, where they take on one person to have sex with, who protects them from others, so they decrease their chances of getting HIV.
In a protective pairing their may be more opportunities to practice some kind of safety, verses being forced into unprotected sex with multiple assailants.

Suicide

This is the third leading cause of death in prisons right after HIV. It's little surprise how many men try to take this as an option vs being raped repeatedly and passed around in jail.
One of the worst story of this kind of the story of 17 year old Rodney Hulin.

[quote]My name is Rodney Hulin and I work at a retirement home here in Beaumont, Texas. I am here today because of my son. He would be here himself if he could . . . . But he can't because he died in [an adult prison]. . . . [At age seventeen], my son was raped and sodomized by an inmate. The doctor found two tears in his rectum and ordered an HIV test, since up to a third of the 2,200 inmates there were HIV positive. Fearing for his safety, he requested to be placed in protective custody, but his request was denied because, as the warden put it, "Rodney's abuses didn't meet the 'emergency grievance criteria.'" For the next several months, my son was repeatedly beaten by the older inmates, forced to perform oral sex, robbed, and beaten again.

Each time, his requests for protection were denied by the warden. The abuses, meanwhile, continued. On the night of January 26, 1996--seventy-five days after my son entered Clemens--Rodney attempted suicide by hanging himself in his cell. He could no longer stand to live in continual terror. It was too much for him to handle. He laid in a coma for the next four months until he died.(183)

In early 1995, Rodney Hulin, Jr., received an eight year sentence for arson. He was sixteen years old but was sentenced to serve his time in adult prison.

On November 13, 1995, Hulin was transferred to the Clemens Unit in Brazoria County, Texas. Older inmates there immediately started to threaten and harass him; within a week he was raped. With a medical examination confirming the rape, Hulin requested protective custody. "He went through all the proper channels, trying to get protection," recalled his father, who found out about the rape in a letter from his son. "Rodney was very small--probably the smallest person on the unit. He was 5'2" and weighed about 125. A first offender. I can't fathom why they wouldn't help him."(184)[/quote]

Being a target of rape or sexual assault in the first week is not uncommon, in fact many man are targeted within the first 48 hrs. This can happen in the jails as well as the prisons.

Young men like Rodney are prime targets for this kind of jail house assault. Many do prison stints where they are routinely exposed to this type of abuse, unless they can find a way to stop it, which usually involves violence such as stabbing or killing another inmate, which then has the potential to leave them in prison for life. Or breaking the laws in prison, and staying on restrictions which do not allow any time out for good behaviour, but this is the way some men are able to protect themselves, it's not always guaranteed.

Being Turned out and staying turned out

Being made to take on a feminine role, engage in male on male sex, or "being turned out" can cause confusion, shame, and powerlessness in men. It can cause enough confusion that some will stay permanently turned out, meaning they will continue to have male on male sex.

As we saw in the film turned out, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4_uvvcaDqw

Issy went on to become a full out homosexual. Mark at the end of the film ended up in a monogamous relationship with another man. Mark had always been the dominant male in the male on male interactions, yet by the end of the documentary he was saying that he could see himself in a male on male relationship.

Will he be part of the down-low culture when he get's out of jail? It's hard to say. I was not able to research if these prison interactions were adding to the down-low culture in men.

CSA.http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:z09nx5z-WogJ:www.caps.ucsf.edu/pubs/presentations/ppt/CSA.ppt+black+men+downlow+sexual+abuse&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a

I did find out that unexplored issues of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) might in part be adding to this phenomenon more than realised, but that needs further research.

In the film we also saw Matt a young white male who after being raped, and turned out, LaMoore and Mark become very promiscuous with many of the men on the floor, yet when he was released from jail he went on to date a young women who he described as a fox. Was Matt ever tested for STD's after what happened to him? It's unknown, but HIV testing should be offered to these men, as should ways of protecting themselves.

As we saw in the Rodney Hulin story where he staying a third of the men had HIV.


Summary.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=LGZRuseil-gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%E2%80%9CI+had+no+choice+but+to+submit+to+being+Inmate+B%E2%80%99s+prison+wife.+Out+of+fear+for+my+life,+I+submitted+to+sucking+his+dick,&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Male on Male rape is just one small aspect of male rape. It has not looked at the phenomenon in other part of society such as in the community, which is as high as 10% of the rapes reported, but could be potentially higher.

In the military it could in some areas be as high as 50%
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009716522_militaryrape23m.html

[quote]... make up 49% of military sexual-trauma victims.
Men[/quote]

This report did not look at female on male rape either. The issue of male rape is so broad and varied and so under reported and studied that it really is an issue that needs to be explored and better understood.

There is an unspoken acceptance of this in society which contributes to this going unchecked and unreported. If this is going to change for future generations of men, then it has to start with society and their attitudes around this issue. More awareness and exposure is needed to help bring this very important topic into the spotlight.

http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32361

[quote]About 3% of American men – a total of 2.78 million men – have experienced a rape at some point in their lifetime (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). In 2003, one in every ten rape victims was male. While there are no reliable annual surveys of sexual assaults on children, the Justice Department has estimated that one of six victims are under age 12 (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003). 71% of male victims were first raped before their 18th birthday; 16.6% were 18-24 years old, and 12.3% were 25 or older (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). Males are the least likely to report a sexual assault, though it is estimated that they make up 10% of all victims (RAINN, 2006). 22% of male inmates have been raped at least once during their incarceration; roughly 420,000 prisoners each year (Human Rights Watch, 2001).[/quote]

Also since male rape, sexual assult is so under reported at every level, the figures are likely to be
higher in some areas then others than known.