This is more than just a punch line, men get raped.
Male rape is used as material for jokes and laughs, but victims of the ordeal have to deal with the trauma.
For centuries men have been perceived to be sexual predators always on the hunt for the sex. It is because of this perception that it is believed that men cannot be raped.
Also, because it is believed that men are the stronger of the sexes, therefore men cannot be subdued. These wrongful notions have perpetuated rape culture and have made millions of men suffer in silence from the trauma of being raped.
This is a reference to men who have been raped by women. The thought alone does not seem plausible to many but male rape happens a lot.
Men who have been raped by women have been afraid to come out because they do not want end up being the butt of jokes or afraid they would be described as effeminate.
Last weekend, a video of three women raping a man in South Africa went viral. "I told my older sister about what happened but she thought I was joking," said the rape victim. After the video went viral his sister believed him and told him to report to the police.
For female victims of rape, the unfortunate rhetoric for most of them is that they caused it. For men, no one believes them because it sounds ludicrous.
When the video made its rounds on Twitter, the general response was more of confusion. It wasn't a sharp outcry like when a video surfaced on Twitter of a young woman being gang raped in Abia State University.
Society still does not know how to respond to male rape stories and male rape victims. This is because we have been wired to thinking that men cannot be dominated and they are 24/7 sex machines. Also, we tend to believe male rape victims as being lucky. The South African man who was gang raped said the experience for him was traumatic.
On a lot of rape literature and messages, it is mostly if not totally tilted towards when a man rapes a woman. In this part of the world, male rape is hardly covered.
This still shows that we still think of traditional gender roles and beliefs. Men get raped too, not as much as women but it happens and we do not know how to adequately respond to that.
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